English
Greece should default within the eurozone: On CNBC
, 08/02/2012
While Greece’s political leadership was continuing with its game of charades (Will they sign? Will they not?), the country is being led down the garden path, once again. The debt-deflationary downward spiral will be given another impetus. Here I tell CNBC that Sisyphus’ optimal strategy is to stop pushing the rock up the hill. And […]
The Global Minotaur now available in Greek
, 06/02/2012
Six months after its launch, The Global Minotaur has now been published in Greek by A.A. Livanis. Click here for the relevant web site. A brief description in Greek follows. For the English, original, version click here. And for the German translation here. «Το βιβλίο αυτό είναι μια από εκείνες τις πολύ σπάνιες εκδόσεις για […]
Is Greece still viable? (Is Europe?): my piece in Deutsche Welle.de
, 05/02/2012
[The following piece was commissioned by DW.de. Click here for the article as it appeared on Deutsche Welle’s website.] “Perhaps it is historically true that no order of society ever perishes save by its own hand.” [John Maynard Keynes][1]
Europe's austerian state of play, animated
, 04/02/2012
Written and produced by Irish economist David McWilliams, who deserves a round of applause.
Reporting the Eurozone’s Crisis: Lessons from the Greek Front (*)
, 04/02/2012
Over the past two years, the economic crisis that has engulfed Greece has also thrust me in front of the microphones and note pads of the myriad journalists who descended upon Athens to report on the unfolding drama. In this sense, I have not only been witnessing the evolution of Greece’s (and the eurozone’s) meltdown […]
Crying over spilt milk: My CNN.com piece on Greek sovereignty and the unholy alliance between German and Greek leaders
, 31/01/2012
[The following story was commissioned by CNN.com. Click here for the complete article.] STORY HIGHLIGHTS German and Greek politicians are at odds over who should control Greece’s budget Greek political economist Yanis Varoufakis says both are guilty of failing to grasp the real problem Varoufakis says both countries mislead voters in agreeing an unsustainable rescue […]
Pointless fury: Why both German and Greek politicians are wrong to be angry
, 30/01/2012
So, some German politicians put on paper that which they have been thinking of a while: Greece has become an unbearable burden and, if they are to resign themselves to continue putting their money in that particular black hole, they might as well have a say in the way it is managed on the ground. Predictably, […]
Canada’s Stark Options: Recovery or Regress?
, 26/01/2012
[Here is the speech I intend to give later today at the CCPA workshop on ‘Canada: How can we avoid a lost decade?’ ] If everything is (as economists seem to believe) relative, then Canada is doing reasonably well in the aftermath of the Crash of 2008. Its governing politicians are, of course, stretching credulity […]
The Global Economic Crisis: Can Canada Escape a Lost Decade?
, 25/01/2012
On Thursday 25th January, I shall be participating in what seems like a fascinating debate in the Canadian House of Commons. Organised by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, we shall be discussing the Crisis’ impact on Canada, the wisdom (or otherwise) of its government’s planned responses and the links between the Canadian, American, European […]
The Global Minotaur now in German
, 24/01/2012
It is with great joy, and some trepidation, that I received the news of the German edition of my Global Minotaur. At this delicate juncture of Europe’s ‘evolution’, the opportunity to speak directly to German readers’ perceptions of the Crisis, and in German, seems significant. Click here for my presentation of the book at Columbia […]
On BBC World tv, explaining why the PSI deal (if/when it happens) will be an agreement bereft of a sustainable future
, 23/01/2012
Click here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16679370
Complexity Fetishism, the Euro Crisis and a worthy challenge for 2012: Part B
, 20/01/2012
Part B: The lure of naive models in the era of financialisation (*) [(*) For the rationale of this four-part series of posts, as well as for Part A of the series, click here.] Preface: Part A of this four-part series of posts began by focusing on the problematic application of the analytic-synthetic method to socio-economic […]
Paradigm Lost: Rethinking Economics and Politics
, 19/01/2012
On 12th to 15th April, a conference will be organised by INET on this theme [Axica Conference Center, Berlin]. For the full program, see here. In its context, on the 13th, I shall be participating in the following session. As I am figuring out the content of my intervention, I would welcome your suggestions. Thanks […]
Two interviews on the futile PSI negotiations
, 19/01/2012
For the second interview click here: Europe as the world’s laughing stock
Why, for Greece’s and Europe’s sake, the PSI ought to fail
, 17/01/2012
Headlines the world over ‘agonise’, on behalf of Greece and Europe, on whether the PSI+ negotiations will come to a conclusion. The presumption is that, if they succeed, Greece will be reprieved and Europe (with France and the EFSF having recently been downgraded) will buy some much needed extra time to put, at long last, […]
On Sky TV discussing the PSI+ negotiations, interviewed by Jeff Randall
, 17/01/2012
PSI talks to resume in Athens over the haircut imposed on banks by the EU in October 2011. Back then, Mrs Merkel and MR Sarkozy forced the hand of the IIF’s head, Mr Dallara, to accept the notion of a ‘voluntary’ 50% haircut on the face value of Greek government bonds (except those not owned […]
On the true causes behind France’s downgrade
, 14/01/2012
“[T]he financial problems facing the eurozone are as much a consequence of rising external imbalances and divergences in competitiveness between the eurozone’s core and the so-called “periphery.” As such, we believe that a reform process based on a pillar of fiscal austerity alone risks becoming self-defeating, as domestic demand falls in line with consumers’ rising concerns […]
A brief note on Tobin’s Tax and Merkozy’s naked cynicism
, 12/01/2012
Tobin’s financial transactions’ tax was a simple, down-to-earth, logical proposal for dealing with the ridiculous volatility that became the norm in the era of the Global Minotaur (my metaphor for the way in which the combination of US trade deficits and capital flows into Wall Street kept the global economy going between the early 1970s […]
Greece’s PSI is Dead on Arrival: An error in search of a rationale but also a failure that may prove a harbinger for the Modest Proposal
, 11/01/2012
A brief history of Greece’s PSI In the beginning there was Wholesale Denial.
Complexity Fetishism, the Euro Crisis and a worthy challenge for 2012: Part A
, 08/01/2012
Preface: Before 2012 once again embroils us fully into the ongoing saga of the eurozone’s Crisis and its global ramifications, I thought it might be a good idea to start the year on a reflective mood. The topic I chose is complexity and the inadequate responses to it that have landed us in a mire of […]
Ending 2011 with a fable for our times
, 23/12/2011
As 2011 is drawing to a close, with the ECB only having managed to paper over the deepening cracks of the eurozone, it is time to allow ourselves to abandon the barricades for ten days or so. If the soldiers in the Great War’s killing fields could maintain a humane ceasefire, tend to the wounded, […]
The race to lend Greece: A short story by Klaus Kastner
, 18/12/2011
In this remarkable short story, Klaus Kastner (Kleingut) offers a fictionalised account of how Europe’s banks channelled billions to their Greek counter parties. It makes for excellent cross reading with my recent take on the Ant and the Grasshopper fable. [Click here for Klaus’ original post.)