debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
It is a measure of the state we are in that the latest quarterly growth number for the UK, at 0.3% (1.2% annual rate) for 2013Q1, should be regarded as a political plus for the Chancellor. [See postscript at end.] So here is the first chart: This extremely weak growth from a starting point of a deep [...]
A very interesting video on the link between inequality and the origin of the financial crisis on The Real News. This is in line with recent research in Europe.
In my last SE column (reprinted here) I criticised ECB President Draghi for basing policy recommendations on a comparison between productivity growth, measured in real terms (i.e. excluding the effects of inflation), and nominal wages (which are measured in current prices, and thus allow for inflation). There is a simple way to visualise how wrong [...]
ECB President Mario Draghi made a presentation to heads of state and government at last week’s European Council on the economic situation in the euro area. His intent was to show the real reasons for the crisis and the counter-measures needed. In this he succeeded – although not in the way he intended. Draghi presented [...]
As people in the developed world wonder how their countries will return to full employment after the Great Recession, it might benefit us to take a look at a visionary essay that John Maynard Keynes wrote in 1930, called “Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren.” Keynes’s General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, published in 1936, equipped [...]
Here’s the good news. The economic pie is growing again. Growth in the 4th quarter last year hit 3 percent on an annualized rate. That’s respectable – although still way too slow to get us back on track given how far we plunged. Here’s the bad news. The share of that growth going to American workers [...]
Dean Baker counters American National Public Radio attacks on France’s 35-hour week and in doing so gives me an opportunity to write about something other than the interminable euro area crisis (and reflect on whether I shouldn’t try to leave the office at a reasonable hour tonight). Dean is right. Those asserting that the working [...]
Poor countries have access to world markets and rich countries’ technologies. In principle, they should catch up. Yet the record belies this expectation. But this column argues labour productivity in manufacturing displays a clear tendency towards convergence, unconditional on the countries’ institutions or policies. The policies that matter for growth are thus those that bear [...]
Despite the IMF having strong-armed Germany into giving way on the principle that private banks should share the pain, Eurozone ministers still can’t agree on a bailout package, so the Greek crisis has not been resolved. Nor will it be anytime soon. Assuming the ‘new’ Papandreou government can push more cuts through the Greek Parliament [...]
The U.S. economy continues to stagnate. It’s growing at the rate of 1.8 percent, which is barely growing at all. Consumer spending is down. It’s vital that we understand the truth about the American economy. How did we go from the Great Depression to 30 years of Great Prosperity? And from there, to 30 years [...]
It is hard to know whether ECB President Trichet is more to blame or the Reuters reporters. But what is clear is that a wrong message is sent on the key issue of wages by reports such as this one, which muddles up a number of issues. President Trichet is correct, in principle, to stress [...]
The 2000s were a lost decade for German wage-earners: in fact real gross wages actually declined by 4% during the ten-year period, according to a study by the Hans-Böckler Foundation ( summary here in German). That has been a disaster for German workers, who have seen their living standards eroded, but it has also been [...]
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