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The ECB grants debt relief to all Eurozone nations except Greece

De Grauwe, Paul, (2016), “The ECB grants debt relief to all Eurozone nations except Greece”, Voxeu, 13 Μay Greece may be about to get some debt relief, although there is still resistance to the idea. This column argues that the ECB has been providing other Eurozone countries with debt relief since early 2015 through its programme of quantitative easing. The reason given for excluding Greece from the QE programme – the ‘quality’ …Read More

Greece in a monetary union: Lessons from 100 years of exchange rate experience, 1841-1939

Morys Matthias, (2016), “Greece in a monetary union: Lessons from 100 years of exchange rate experience, 1841-1939”, Voxeu, 10 Μay The first century of modern Greek monetary history has striking parallels to the country’s current crisis, from repeated cycles of entry and exit from the dominant fixed exchange rate system, to government debt built-up and default, to financial supervision by West European countries. This column compares these two episodes in Greece’s monetary …Read More

Is Greek public debt unsustainable?

Darvas, Zsolt, Hutl, Pia, (2016), “Is Greek public debt unsustainable?”, Bruegel, 7 May Greek public debt does not look sustainable if the country has to return to market borrowing at the end of the third bail-out programme, but could be sustainable if preferential ESM funding continues in the long-term. Our advice is to offer hope for Greece in the form of delayed fiscal adjustment toward a target of 2.5% of GDP …Read More

Time for Debt Reduction in Greece

El-Arian, Mohamed A., (2016), “Time for Debt Reduction in Greece”, Project Syndicate, 22 April Once again, Greece is at an inflection point. With its cash balances severely stressed, it seems unlikely to be able to pay the cascading debt payments that are falling due over the next few months. So yet another round of contentious and protracted discussions with its creditors is underway – one that may well produce yet another short-term …Read More

As European Central Bank Convenes, How Well Has Maestro Mario Performed?

Spellman, James D. , (2016), “As European Central Bank Convenes, How Well Has Maestro Mario Performed?”, The European Institute, March2016 Euphoria in financial markets can burn off as fast as fireworks, an explosive flare-up and then, poof, gone. Many investors are wondering if the unprecedented initiatives by the European Central Bank, including negative interest rates, may be just like that, a cascade of fleeting embers. Others, though, think the restructuring underway …Read More

Poul Thomsen, Greece And IMF Cynicism

Munevar, Daniel, (2016), “Poul Thomsen, Greece And IMF Cynicism”, Social Europe Journal, 16 February For the casual reader, Poul Thomsen’s recent piece on the role of the IMF in the bailout review negotiations taking place between Greece and the Troika would seem balanced and reasonable. At the end of the day, as he has argued elsewhere, the numbers simply need to add up. For that, there is a trade-off between …Read More

Greece: Toward a Workable Program

Thomsen, Poul M., (2016), “Greece: Toward a Workable Program”, Blog iMFdirect, 11 February. Having successfully pulled Greece from the brink last summer and subsequently stabilized the economy, the government of Alexis Tsipras is now discussing with its European partners and the IMF a comprehensive multi-year program that can secure a lasting recovery and make debt sustainable. While discussions continue, there have been some misperceptions about the International Monetary Fund’s views and role in …Read More

The Varoufakis Effect?

Varoufakis, Yanis, (2016), “The Varoufakis Effect?”, Project Syndicate, 26 January In his end-of-2015 missive, Holger Schmieding of the Hamburg investment bank Berenberg warned his firm’s clients that what they should be worrying about now is political risk. To illustrate, he posted the diagram below, showing how business confidence collapsed in Greece during the late spring of 2015, and picked up again only after my resignation from the finance ministry. Schmieding …Read More

Greece’s Two Currencies

 Varoufakis, Yanis, (2016), “Greece’s Two Currencies”, Social Europe, 8 January. Imagine a depositor in the US state of Arizona being permitted to withdraw only small amounts of cash weekly and facing restrictions on how much money he or she could wire to a bank account in California. Such capital controls, if they ever came about, would spell the end of the dollar as a single currency, because such constraints are utterly …Read More

The Left in government again: Principled politicians and pragmatic policies – A lesson on how to square the circle

Sourvanos, Dimitris, Nanou, Kyriaki, (2015), “The Left in government again: Principled politicians and pragmatic policies – A lesson on how to square the circle“,  LSE blog, 24 November Last week Euclid Tsakalotos gave a talk at the LSE discussing from his own experiences – as (the current) finance minister in Greece and as a lifelong Marxist – the difficulties that left-wing parties are faced with when governing under severe constraints. Relevant Posts Cowen, T. …Read More