debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
Watch Joseph Stiglitz discuss the European recession and the politics that has led to it. The talk was recorded in New York at the event ‘A Discussion on the Future of Europe,’ organized by the Center on Global Economic Governance, SIPA, Columbia University, with The Brookings Institution and World Leaders Forum. The event took place on [...]
Recently I attended a German economic conference where the Euro crisis was hotly debated. What really shocked me was that economists almost unanimously agreed that the crisis countries’ recessions are necessary. These economists argued that the ensuing social hardship may be deplorable but necessary to throw unproductive firms out of the market and then allow [...]
This is what Paul Krugman called the austerity blunder in his latest New York Times column. He also had some praise for the latest paper by IMF Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard, in which he admitted that austerity had a profoundly negative effect, even though they should have known from the start that this was going [...]
Crisis is a word that occurs frequently in newspapers, on television, in everyday conversation, which is sufficient to justify, from time to time, financial difficulties, increases in prices, the decrease in demand, the lack of liquidity, the imposition of new taxes or all these things taken together. “Economic crisis” is – according to dictionaries – [...]
The more the evidence builds up on the disastrous effects of austerity on economic activity and jobs, the more those that are responsible for this failure become lyrical. The Commission’s autumn economic forecasts already carried the imaginative title of ‘sailing through rough waters’. Last Monday, an opinion piece in the FT can be read as [...]
Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz discussed their respective books on the current economic problems and inequality at an event organised by the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET). For the everybody who was unable to attend the event they fortunately uploaded a YouTube video of the full event.
The video of Paul Krugman’s recent talk at LSE in London is now online. SEJ had a slot to interview him just before the lecture but his publisher had to cancel the last moment. So even though we cannot offer you a dedicated interview, here is the full video of his talk.
Watching Paul Krugman speak at the LSE this week, I was amazed at how simple and direct his message was. In essence, the argument is that we know from Keynes how to get out of recession; what the UK economy needs is a stimulus of the order of £250-400bn (ie, 2-3% of GDP). The costs [...]
Europe’s situation is serious – very serious. Who would have thought that British Prime Minister David Cameron would call on eurozone governments to muster the courage to create a fiscal union (with a common budget and tax policy and jointly guaranteed public debt)? And Cameron also argues that deeper political integration is the only way [...]
It is now increasingly clear that what started in late 2008 is no ordinary economic slump. Almost four years after the beginning of the crisis, developed economies have not managed a sustainable recovery, and even the better-off countries reveal signs of weakness. Faced with the certainty of a double-dip recession, Europe’s difficulties are daunting. Not [...]
Politicians are masters at “passing the buck.” Everything good that happens reflects their exceptional talents and efforts; everything bad is caused by someone or something else. The economy is a classic field for this strategy. Three years after the global economy’s near-collapse, the feeble recovery has already petered out in most developed countries, whose economic [...]
France, which now holds the presidency of the G-20, has chosen reform of the international monetary system as its main priority for the Cannes summit in November. But is the issue worth the time and energy officials will devote to it? And where can such discussions lead? When French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his G-20 [...]
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