The European Union Court today delivered its verdict: European citizens cannot be allowed to find out whether the ECB acted legally in closing down Greece’s banks in June 2015. Why? In the wording of the three judges, because such disclosure would affect the ECB’s “space to think in 2015 and also after 2015”. If this sounds […]
Banking Crisis
CRASHED: Long version of my Observer review of Adam Tooze’s new book on the Crash of 2008
Every so often humanity manages genuinely to surprise itself. Events to which we had previously assigned zero probability push us into what the ancient Greeks referred to as aporia: a state of intense bafflement urgently demanding a new model of the world we live in. The Crash of 2008 was such a moment. Suddenly, the […]
A letter to my daughter about the black magic of banking…
As you grow up and experience more of the ups and downs of the economy, you will notice a piece of mindbending hypocrisy: during the good times, bankers, entrepreneurs—rich people in general—tend to be against government. They criticize it as a “brake on development,” a “parasite” feeding on the private sector through taxation, an “enemy […]
Want to know why the recent ECB stress tests of the Greek banks had to be fraudulent? – Video interview on TheStreet
To watch the video click on the photo above or click here.
The Great Crash (2007/8) ten years on – talking on BBC Radio 4’s World At One special program
In this BBC World at One program dedicated to the Crash of 2007-8, I try, in the space of two and a half minutes, to explain why those momentous events, ten years ago, changed the world in a manner that it no longer makes sense in terms common prior to 2007. Of why I claim […]
Mr Draghi, what are you afraid of? Release #TheGreekFiles!
Join the campaign to demand that the ECB publish the legal opinion it commissioned on whether its closure of Greece’s banks in 2015 was… legal. CLICK HERE!
Reflections on the nature & causes of global financial uncertainty – Amsterdam 4th DEC 2016
On 4th December 2016 I delivered the keynote at the RiskMinds International risk management conference in Amsterdam. A summary of my talk, compiled by the organisers, follows.
The Politics of Negative Interest Rates – Project Syndicate op-ed
ATHENS – Objects of desire come at a cost. Only bad things, like toxic waste, have a negative price, the equivalent of a fee payable to anyone willing to make them disappear. Does this mean that negative interest rates embody a new perspective on money – that it has gone “bad”? [To read on, click […]
Is Finance Fit To Purpose?
Yanis Varoufakis speaking at John McDonnell’s Economic Lecture Series Event, City of London, 30th March 2016
The Greek Plan for Growth & Recovery: Two documents the Ministry of Finance tabled in May and June 2015
Now that Greece’s Third Memorandum of Understanding has passed (see here for my annotated version), after the SYRIZA government surrendered on 12th July 2015, it is perhaps of interest to compare the ‘Reform Agenda’ in that agreement with the agenda the Ministry of Finance had presented to the institutions on two occasions, in May and June […]
Varoufakis and Tsakalotos on the Eurozone institutions and bank bailouts – INET-OECD April 9th 2015
Two SYRIZA ministers for the price of one! Here you can find audio of our talks at the INET-OECD 9th April conference on the subject of ‘Eurozone institutions during the bank bailout negotiations’. Yanis Varoufakis’ talk below Euclid Tsakalotos talk below
Burst Greek Bubbles, Spooked Fund Managers: A cause for restrained celebration
The international press is replete with reports of how London-based fund managers were spooked when they heard of SYRIZA’s views on the nature of Greece’s conundrum and on the party’s intention to work towards a debt restructure and a re-orientation of social and economic policies toward social cohesion and economic growth. Here is my reply…
Today’s Eurozone seen from an investor’s perspective – Keynote (audio)
On 30th October I was invited to address a meeting of German, Austrian and Swiss pension fund managers on how they should make sense of the Eurozone’s current state of play. In this keynote (click below for the audio and the accompanying slides) I present an explanation of the causes underlying the impossible dilemmas pension fund […]