Stelter, D. (2014) “How Japan Bankrupted Itself – Lessons For Europe, The story of Japan’s decline — and the lessons for Europe“, The Globalist, 19 December. Following the start of Abenomics in 2012, Japan moved back to the center of attention of global financial markets. After two and a half decades of economic stagnation, hopes were high that Japan would escape its long stagnation and deflation. Plenty of economists …Read More
Joseph E. Stiglitz, Branko Milanovic & Duncan Foley (Video Presentation) “New Theoretical Perspectives on the Distribution of Income and Wealth Among Individuals“, Institute for New Economic Thinking, 19 December 2014. Inequality has become one of the major talking points amongst economists since the advent of Thomas Piketty’s book Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Piketty argues in the book that the main driver of inequality—the tendency of returns on capital to exceed the …Read More
Lynn Parramore: Interview with Joseph Stiglitz: “Economics Has to Come to Terms with Wealth and Income Inequality“, Institute for New Economic Thinking, 16 December. Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz has been writing about America’s economically divided society since the 1960s. His recent book, The Price of Inequality, argues that this division is holding the country back, a topic he has also explored in research supported by the Institute. On December …Read More
“Conversation with Larry Summers: What does the Future Hold for our Economy? (Video)“, Social Europe Journal, 17 December. As 2014 draws to a close people wonder what the new year will have in store. If you are worried about the world economy have a look at this discussion with Larry Summers. The former US Secretary of the Treasury discussed the major economic trends and challenges with David Leonhardt, editor …Read More
Mitchell, B. (2014) “Solving tax avoidance will not cure the Eurozone of stagnation“, Bill Mitchell Blog, 15 December. There was an article in the French-language edition of Huffington Post last last week (December 10, 2014) – Sans Europe fiscale, le projet européen est condamné (Without taxes, the European project is doomed) – written by the President of the French Socialist delegation in the European Parliament, Pervenche Berès. Her committee …Read More
Louri-Dendrinou, Ε. (2014) “How likely is a credit-less recovery in the euro area? The role of a capital markets union“, LSE EUROPP, Hellenic Observatory – European Institute, 10 December. It is often discussed how bank-dependent for financing investment euro area firms are. It is estimated that 80% of their investment needs are financed from banks and only 20% from capital markets, while in the US the reverse is true. …Read More
Interview with Thomas Piketty: “The myth of national sovereignty helps big corporations screw us over”, The European Magazine, 12 December. French economist Thomas Piketty has put inequality back on the map and is being hailed as the Karl Marx of the 21st century. He talked to Max Tholl and Florian Guckelsberger about a globalization gone wrong, a Eurozone parliament and our obsession with economic growth. The European: Mr. …Read More
Barber, T. (2014) “Economic chill set to make Finland the sick man of Europe“, Financial Times, Comments Blog, 02 December. Which of the eurozone’s 18 member states will be the weakest performing economy in 2015? Italy, which has recorded no economic growth since 1999? Cyprus, which is still reeling from its financial sector collapse in 2012-13? Or some other hard-pressed southern European nation? No. In all probability, the sick …Read More
Kenneth, T. (2014) “The German euro is overvalued“, US/ Global Economics, Angry Bear Blog, 02 December. I keep telling people that the German euro is undervalued, but some folks seem not to believe me. (See the comments section from this post last year for an example.) But this is a really big deal. The dominant narrative about the eurozone crisis is that fiscally irresponsible countries like Greece were bringing …Read More
Smith, Y. (2014) “Germany and the European Commission’s €315 Billion Infrastructure “New Deal” is Yet More Smoke and Mirrors“, Naked Capitalism Blog, 26 November. I have to confess I had not taken the announcement of a €315 billion infrastructure spending program by the European Commission all that seriously, despite the fact that this on the surface represented a very serious departure from the Troika’s antipathy for anything resembling fiscal …Read More
