Edward Harrison

Articles By: Edward Harrison

Edward Harrison is the founder of Credit Writedowns and a former career diplomat, investment banker and technology executive with over twenty years of business experience. He is also a regular economic and financial commentator on BBC World News, CNBC Television, Business News Network, CBC, Fox Television and RT Television. He speaks six languages and reads another five, skills he uses to provide a more global perspective. Edward holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia University and a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College. Edward also writes a premium financial newsletter. Sign up here for a free trial.

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Here are my most recent posts

Links: 2013-05-23

News links for 23 May 2013

by Edward Harrison / on 23 May 2013 at 08:23 /

On the Fed’s tapering and the volatility in Japan

Yesterday, Ben Bernanke said that the Fed would start to wind down it’s QE program sometime this summer as I indicated early last week I believed the timetable would be. Market pundits believe these remarks triggered a sell-off in global equities, with Japan being hardest hit as the Nikkei fell 7.3% this morning. I was more concerned about the poor Chinese PMI print. But if the pundits are right, it is an extraordinary move into risk-off thinking given that the Fed had telegraphed its intentions. This incident shows you how the Fed’s exit path is fraught with risk. Japan is another story altogether.

by Edward Harrison / on 23 May 2013 at 08:00 /

On European rebalancing and Germany’s excess savings

Michael Pettis had a very good post out yesterday that focused on the sectoral balances within and across eurozone countries which I recommend. His point is that excess German savings driven by wage suppression was behind macro imbalances and not thrift. I want to expand upon this theme. My prediction here is that rebalancing away from excess German savings will not occur on nearly a large of scale to matter.

by Edward Harrison / on 22 May 2013 at 15:00 /

Links: 2013-05-22

News links for 22 May 2013

by Edward Harrison / on 22 May 2013 at 08:10 /

On Greece’s eventual exit from the eurozone

I don’t think it’s a big secret that I believe Greece will eventually leave the eurozone. I have said this repeatedly. But I have also written that I do not believe that Greece would attempt to do so while Europe’s economic crisis is ongoing. Instead I believe that Greece will exit once things have stabilized but it becomes clear that it faces an interminable jobless recovery.

by Edward Harrison / on 21 May 2013 at 09:52 /

Links: 2013-05-21

News links for 21 May 2013

by Edward Harrison / on 21 May 2013 at 08:30 /

On Germany’s response to Euroland’s problems

Earlier today I wrote a post on the free blog site about blaming Germany for the problems in the euro zone. I ended up defending the German political response and blaming the euro. Let me just add a bit of colour to that here.

by Edward Harrison / on 20 May 2013 at 20:59 /

Germany is willing to accept a higher inflation target but does it matter?

Last year, we saw a sea change in official German policy regarding the euro crisis and inflation. The German government came out in favour of accepting higher inflation domestically in Germany as a sacrifice for eurozone wage and price adjustments to help alleviate crisis. The question is whether this matters. I believe it does, but only in part.

by Edward Harrison / on 20 May 2013 at 11:34 /