D’alessio, Giovanni, Gambacorta, Romina, Ilardi, Giuseppe, (2013), “Are Germans poorer than other Europeans? The principal Eurozone differences in wealth and income”, www.voxoeu.org, 24 May. The ECB’s recent survey on household finances and consumption threw up some unexpected results – counter-intuitively, the average German household has less wealth than the average Mediterranean household. In line with a recent VoxEU.org contribution from De Grauwe and Ji, this article analyses the principal differences …Read More

Rogoff, Kenneth, (2013), “Europe’s Lost Keynesians”, www.project-syndicate.org, 23 May. There is no magic Keynesian bullet for the eurozone’s woes. But the spectacularly muddle-headed argument nowadays that too much austerity is killing Europe is not surprising. Commentators are consumed by politics, flailing away at any available target, while the “anti-austerity” masses apparently believe that there are easy cyclical solutions to tough structural problems.

Higgins, Matthew, Klitgaard, Thomas, (2013), “Foreign Borrowing in the Euro Area Periphery: The End Is Near”, Federal Reserve of New York, 22 Μαΐου. Current account deficits in euro area periphery countries have now largely disappeared. This represents a substantial adjustment. Only two years ago, deficits stood at nearly 10 percent of GDP in Greece and Portugal and 5 percent in Spain and Italy.

Spence, Michael, (2013), “Learning about growth from austerity”,  www.project-syndicate.org, 18 May. In a recent set of studies, Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff used a vast array of historical data to show that the accumulation of high levels of public (and private) debt relative to GDP has an extended negative effect on growth. The size of the effect incited debate about errors in their calculations. Few, however, doubt the validity of …Read More

Tilford, Simon, (2013), “European austerity: Turn or TINA?”, www.cer.org.uk, 25 April. Will European governments reverse the austerity course that has done so much to damage their already enfeebled economies? With the revelation of mathematical errors in the work of two Harvard economists, Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff – who had claimed to show that economic growth falls off a cliff once a country’s ratio of debt to GDP reaches 90 …Read More

Sinn, Hans-Werner, (2013), “Should Germany Exit the Euro?” , www.project-syndicate.org, 23 April. Last summer, the financier George Soros urged Germany to agree to the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism, calling on the country to “lead or leave.” Now he says that Germany should exit the euro if it continues to block the introduction of Eurobonds. Soros is playing with fire. Leaving the eurozone is precisely what the newly founded …Read More

Kirkegaard, Jacob, (2013), “Remain Calm: Europe Is Still on Track” , The Peterson Institute for International Economics, 17 April. European short-term economic growth prospects remain weak because of rampant fiscal consolidation, private sector deleveraging, and the temporary unsettling effects of structural reforms. But European leaders continue to take important and constructive decisions on bailouts and the banking union, suggesting that recovery will eventually get on track. At least three such …Read More