Tag Archives: Euro

Europe and the US: the tortoise and the hare

Comparing the European economy to that of the US reminds me of Aesop’s fable of the race between the tortoise and the hare.  The US’s flexible labour and product markets, and decisive interventions in time of crisis, give it the … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Economics & Finance, World | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Euro end game

It’s been a tough year for Europhiles, especially those, like me, who have always supported the single currency and thought Britain should have been part of it.  Most of them have been very quiet, and no wonder.  Whatever one says … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Economics & Finance, World | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Does the Euro need a Big Bazooka?

It is a commonplace amongst Anglo-Saxon policy makers that the Eurozone leaders need to use a “big bazooka” to solve the currency crisis that is engulfing the continent.  David Cameron has been particularly conspicuous in using this expression.  Is it … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Economics & Finance, World | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Solving the Euro crisis means a stronger ECB

I do not regret paying my access fee to the FT website.  This morning there are two excellent articles on the Euro crisis from the two regular Wednesday morning columnists: Martin Wolf and John Kay.  It has helped clarify the … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Economics & Finance, World | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Five Eurosceptic fallacies

I caught a bit of last night’s Radio 4 Analysis programme driving home from a meeting, on Euroscepticism in  Britain.  One speaker (I didn’t catch who) suggested that the case for Britain being in the EU was mainly economic – … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Economics & Finance, Politics UK, World | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Understanding the Euro Crisis

My favourite contemporary economist is UCL’s Professor Wendy Carlin.  She was my tutor at UCL, and led my second year macroeconomics course, and a third year course on European institutions.  Her patient, dispassionate analysis is worth so much more than … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Economics & Finance, World | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Time the British woke up to the crisis in Europe

It is a commonplace for Britain’s politicos to sadly shake their heads and complain that the Euro crisis demonstrates a woeful lack of political leadership.  Regardless of the fairness of this charge in respect of Angela Merkel, say, it clearly … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Economics & Finance, Politics UK, World | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Euro: Thatcherism by other means

It’s a grim time for supporters of the Euro project like me.  Hardly a day goes by without hearing some highly patronizing person going on about how a country fixing its exchange rate is a terrible idea  because it can’t … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Economics & Finance, World | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Europe’s financial crisis gets dangerous

While the British news media and politicos alike obsess with the unfolding of the News of the World hacking scandal, Europe’s financial crisis enters a dangerous stage.  In fact this crisis seems to unfolding just as quickly, and with much … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Economics & Finance, World | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Euro crisis: structural failure or learning curve?

Coverage of the crisis in the Eurozone is astonishingly poor.  Commentators scarcely try to analyse the situation properly; instead they revert to one of two unsatisfactory critiques.  First, the Eurosceptic one, is that the Eurozone was always an unworkable idea … Continue reading

Share
Posted in Economics & Finance, World | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment