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- Paul Krugman: The Euro Trap
- Fed Watch: We Can't All Be (Net) Exporters
- links for 2010-04-29
- Two Videos: Energy Security and the Milken-Roubini Debate
Posted: 30 Apr 2010 12:33 AM PDT Deficit hawks are trying to use the "euro-mess" to support their case for austerity. But that's not the real lesson of the European crisis: The Euro Trap, by Paul Krugman, Commentary, NY Times: Not that long ago, European economists used to mock their American counterparts for having questioned the wisdom of Europe's march to monetary union. ... Oops..., right now it does seem to have been a bad idea for exactly the reasons the skeptics cited. And as for whether it will last — suddenly, that's looking like an open question. To understand the euro-mess — and its lessons for the rest of us — you need to see past the headlines. Right now everyone is focused on public debt, which can make it seem as if this is a simple story of governments that couldn't control their spending. But that's only part of the story for Greece, much less for Portugal, and not at all the story for Spain. The fact is that three years ago none of the countries now in or near crisis seemed to be in deep fiscal trouble. ... And all of the countries were attracting large inflows of foreign capital, largely because markets believed that membership in the euro zone made Greek, Portuguese and Spanish bonds safe investments. Then came the global financial crisis. Those inflows of capital dried up; revenues plunged and deficits soared; and membership in the euro ... turned into a trap. What's the nature of the trap? During the years of easy money, wages and prices in the crisis countries rose much faster than in the rest of Europe. Now that the money is no longer rolling in, those countries need to get costs back in line. But that's a much harder thing to do now than it was when each European nation had its own currency. Back then, costs could be brought in line by adjusting exchange rates... Now..., however, the only way to reduce Greek relative costs is through ... deflation. ... The problem is that deflation — falling wages and prices — is always and everywhere a deeply painful process. It invariably involves a prolonged slump with high unemployment. And it also aggravates debt problems, both public and private, because incomes fall while the debt burden doesn't. Hence the crisis. ... All this is exactly what the euro-skeptics feared. Giving up the ability to adjust exchange rates, they warned, would invite future crises. And it has. So what will happen to the euro? Until recently, most analysts, myself included, considered a euro breakup basically impossible, since any government that even hinted that it was considering leaving the euro would be inviting a catastrophic run on its banks. But if the crisis countries are forced into default, they'll probably face severe bank runs anyway... This would open the door to euro exit. So is the euro itself in danger? In a word, yes. If European leaders don't start acting much more forcefully, providing Greece with enough help to avoid the worst, a chain reaction that starts with a Greek default and ends up wreaking much wider havoc looks all too possible. Meanwhile, what are the lessons for the rest of us? The deficit hawks are already trying to appropriate the European crisis, presenting it as an object lesson in the evils of government red ink. What the crisis really demonstrates, however, is the dangers of putting yourself in a policy straitjacket. When they joined the euro,... governments ... denied themselves the ability to do some bad things, like printing too much money; but they also denied themselves the ability to respond flexibly to events. And when crisis strikes, governments need to be able to act. That's what the architects of the euro forgot — and the rest of us need to remember. |
Fed Watch: We Can't All Be (Net) Exporters Posted: 29 Apr 2010 11:16 PM PDT Tim Duy:
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Posted: 29 Apr 2010 11:07 PM PDT
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Two Videos: Energy Security and the Milken-Roubini Debate Posted: 29 Apr 2010 01:08 PM PDT As I travel, here's an automatic post of video from two of the lunchtime sessions at the Milken Global Conference. First, the panel on "Geopolitics, Global Demand and the Quest for Energy Security":
Panel: Geopolitics, Global Demand and the Quest for Energy Security Second, here is video showing a debate between Michael Milken and Nouriel Roubini. I think Paul Kedrosky sums it up well:
Here's the video from the session "Nouriel Roubini and Mike Milken Debate Where We've Been – Where We're Going":
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