Category: Political Economy
Why I am not optimistic about Europe
I am not at all optimistic about the euro zone in terms of policy makers fashioning a solution to the problem. The euro leaders have the diagnosis all wrong. They keep harping on government debt and deficits as if that’s the problem. And this has caused them to go all in for austerity without a backup plan. The reality is that the sovereign debt crisis in Europe is not about government debt; it’s about private debt and intra-euro zone imbalances
First Act of Greek Default Proceedings Drawing to a Close
n the short term, one of the only remaining stumbling block in the form of the ongoing default proceedings in Greece seem to be no match for the ongoing positive animal spirit of the equity market. Only a week ago, we got news that talks in Greece had stalled, but most recently we have been reassured that talks are back on track
A Month In Spain That Didn’t Shake The World
Spain’s economic problems are very grave. The country is facing a decade long depression, and if enough young qualified people leave during this period then the country could enter a negative dynamic from which it will never properly recover. At the outset (2007) I and others argued for a 20% internal devaluation to shift resources over to the export sector. This did not happen, and virtually no one is interested in the idea. The main priorities are still reducing the deficit, and restructuring the financial sector without injecting any significant quantity of public money. Both these policies are contractionary in their impact. In addition the proposed labour market reform is timid, and won’t act quickly enough to stop the rot on the growth front
Spanish government doubts it can achieve deficit target
I have been saying for a few months now that all of the periphery would miss their targets as depression took hold. Belgian newspaper De Standaard reports that the new Spanish government is fearful. My translation from Dutch below
The Importance of the Mario Brothers
They are not really brothers, but Mario Draghi and Mario Monti are countrymen and are doing a great deal to respond to the European debt crisis in ways that were unimaginable until very recently
Münchau: We are fighting the wrong crisis
To me this situation looks pretty hopeless frankly. Policy makers in Europe just don’t get it. The best we are going to get is austerity and partial monetisation by the ECB until the union breaks or sovereign debtors default and banks are recapped. The question is why are they leading us down the abyss
The ECB is Engaging in Massive QE
Despite the ongoing hawkish rhetoric from the ECB, there are signs that they are getting it: The LTRO can’t work, as you’re essentially just swapping one liability for another one (albeit more long term in duration, therefore making it better for the banks). But note the way the ECB balance sheet is expanding: The consolidated assets of the European system of Central Banks is now 4.4 billion euros or $5.7 billion. In effect, the consolidated ESCB balance sheet is almost two times that of the Fed and its increase over the last 6 months is almost equal to the entire increase in the Fed’s balance sheet over the last several years. Bottom line: the system of European Central Banks (ESCB) has been engaged in massive QE and much more is in the pipeline. With such massive injections of “liquidity” into the European banks, a European Lehman type failure with Lehman’s systemic consequences becomes ever less likely
EU leaders are already backtracking on the agreement of 5 weeks ago
The big news out of Europe on Friday was not S&P’s downgrade of 9 countries, France included. The ratings agency told us weeks ago that it might do this. No, much more important was the ECB’s saying in the bluntest possible terms that the EU leaders are backtracking on the fiscal compact agreed just 5 weeks ago by 26 of the 27 countries
Buiter: “The temporary pause in the European debt crisis is as deceptive as the frenzy before the New Year”
The countries of the eurozone will eventually emerge from the sovereign debt crisis — with pain and difficulty
Playing Chicken And Rooster With Hungary
Tension surrounding the application of a series of so-called “unorthodox policies” by Hungary’s Fidesz government has certainly been rising in recent days. While Washington has been reasonably quiet as government emissary Tamas Fellegi meets with top IMF officials, Brussels has seen a veritable avalanche of official statements and policy initiatives. Despite constant rumours that an agreement with the IMF is near, I find it pretty implausible that any deal can be reached without some kind of EU assent. At the present time this assent is unlikely to be forthcoming, and indeed the ”ante” has been pushed up and up
Green Energy – Too Many Subsidies, Too Little Performance
Any politician who talks of a green, utopian US – where wind and solar produce most of our energy, electric cars put power back into the grid, green fields of corn produce clean fuels, and millions of Americans work in green technology factories – is creating a fanciful vision so far detached from reality it should really be called a lie. Such tales are designed to encourage a public that is increasingly despondent about the future, but the policy moves that have been made in support of these fantasies have cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars
PIMCO’s El-Erian: QE3 won’t produce the outcomes we want
Bloomberg wrote the following paragraphs about a recent interview with Mohamed El-Erian. What i thought was interesting was his belief that the Fed is out of bullets. Monetarists and Keynesians believe the Fed can still be effective by managing expectations. So the Fed is on a mission to improve its communication of interest rate policy. Like El-Erian, I am sceptical of this policy turn, but what else can the Fed do? They say they have lots of tools left. Do they