Essays
Open letter to a good friend and colleague (who happened to become Greece’s Finance Minister yesterday…)
, 27/06/2012
Dear Yanni, On the one hand I am writing to congratulate you. And on the other to express my disdain towards those who handed my friend the good ship’s wheel after the vessel has struck the iceberg. Utterly familiar with your effervescent optimism, I know you mean it when you declare confidence in Greece’s capacity […]
And the Good Ship Greece Sails On: ‘Letter’ to an italian colleague
, 24/06/2012
A few weeks ago I was approached by Andrea Adriatico, a theatre director from Bologna’s Teatri Di Vita with an interesting request: Could I write a ‘letter’ to some fictional Italian economics professor, outlining on a colleague-to-colleague basis, the Greek ‘situation’ as it is experienced by a Greek economics professor. That letter would then be read […]
Introducing VALVEconomics – my new blog with research notes on digital economies
, 22/06/2012
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT…
A technical failure foretold? My interrupted BBC TV interview on the… BBC's bias
, 20/06/2012
You may recall that on Greek election day I issued a missive to the BBC, suggesting that they recover forthwith the journalistic standards which they seemed to have dropped in the run up to the Greek election. That missive, might I add, came from a long standing friend and contributor to the BBC. Indeed, I […]
Ponzi Austerity: Interviewed on the Keiser Report
, 15/06/2012
Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert interviewed me, on the Keiser Report, on my notion of Ponzi Austerity, with particular reference to Spain, Ireland and Greece. Watch the video below and let me know what you think. But before you watch it, allow me to state one disagreement of mine with Max and Stacy’s interpretation. Max […]
GERMANY’S CONSTITUTIONAL CONUNDRUM: Guest post by Marshall Auerback
, 13/06/2012
Hans-Werner Sinn, president of Germany’s Ifo Institute and the director of the Center for Economic Studies at the University of Munich, has taken to the pages of the NY Times to explain why Berlin is balking on a further bailout for Europe. Amongst the points that Sinn makes against German sharing in the debt of the [...]Euro-Australia: An instructive counter-factual
, 12/06/2012
In this counter-factual history I narrate (in ‘real time’) the disintegration that would have befallen the Federation of Australia if, in 1901, its founding fathers had used the Eurozone as a template. (A piece commissioned by www.theconversation.edu.au)
In conversation with Rob Johnson (INET Chairman) on the Global Minotaur, the Slump, US and Europe
, 08/06/2012
A few weeks ago, while in New York, Rob Johnson (Chair of the Institute of New Economic Thinking) invited me to their offices where we recorded a conversation on my The Global Minotaur, the true causes of the Crash of 2008, the reasons why the global economy cannot find its poise after that momentous Crash, […]
Why Europe should fear Fine Gael-like ‘reasonableness’ much, much more than it fears Syriza
, 03/06/2012
The establishment view in Europe is that the problem is too much debt (by profligate countries like Greece) and, therefore, that the solution must involve (a) austerity and (b) structural reforms (which increase the competitiveness of the weaker states). The problem, however, is that the establishment view is profoundly mistaken and, as a result, the […]
Italy’s Own Goal: Guest post by Joseph Halevi
, 03/06/2012
The Eurozone’s idiocy is obvious to all those with eyes and ears. It can be witnessed anywhere we turn these days: from the evolving bank run to the non-debate on eurobonds. Joseph Halevi, friend, co-author and serial guest of this blog, just sent me a missive that offers new insights into our continent’s infinite inanity: […]
There’s a lady who’s sure…
, 28/05/2012
I dedicate this post, belatedly, to Christine Lagarde. For her seriously ridiculous remarks on Greek child poverty not being as worthy of her concern as the poverty of far worse off African children. So, to the Managing Director of the one global organisation which has contributed the most to child poverty in Africa and Latin America, […]
What does bank recapitalisation mean? An exchange with Joseph Halevi
, 27/05/2012
In reaction to my Le Monde piece, Joseph Halevi (my close friend and co-author) send me an email, regarding the meaning of bank re-capitalisation, that started as short exchange which you, dear reader, may find of interest. Any comments?
A Paradox of Risk Aversion is haunting the global economy: Rob Johnson’s poignant warning against both bubbles and austerity
, 26/05/2012
We keep forgetting that every Crisis, like a coin, has two faces. One is the mountain of debt and losses that is crushing states, people and banks. The other is an equally imposing mountain of accumulated savings that are to ‘frightened’ to fund investment, thus remaining idle and frittering away. Keynes famously invoked the Paradox […]
For Europe’s sake Greece must renege on its bailout commitments – my op-ed in Le Monde
, 25/05/2012
Le Monde commissioned me to write an op-ed explaining my view that it is in Europe’s interest that Greece resists the ‘terms and conditions’ of its bailout package while staying within the eurozone. In effect, to explain why there is no contradiction between (a) the Greek people’s determination to stay in the eurozone, and (b) […]
Bloomberg Businessweek on UADPhilEcon – the progressive Athens University PhD Economics Program that is now threatened by the Crisis
, 25/05/2012
A few days ago, Brendan Greeley, of Bloomberg, got in touch with me to discuss UADPhilEcon, the Doctoral Program in Economics that I helped set up at the University of Athens. The following article was the result: Greece’s Brain Drain Has Begun Apparently, Brendan had heard me say, in some interview, that one of the […]
Rob Johnson on the economists' collective guilt
, 23/05/2012
Rob Johnson, President of INET, on the sophisticated (but often unintentional) fraud that passes as scientific economics. (I could not, and would not, have put it differently myself.)
Guest Post: Today Germany is the big loser, not Greece – by Marshall Auerbach
, 20/05/2012
Just before the Crisis erupted, in April 2010, with Greece falling into the troika’s embrace in May 2010, I had written an article (A New Versailles haunts Europe) to argue that Germany was about to commit the error that the winners’ of World War I had committed by imposing upon Germany the Versailles Treaty. It was […]
The Modest Proposal for Overcoming the Eurozone Crisis, Version 3.0
, 15/05/2012
This blog was established in order to throw useful light on the Eurozone Crisis and, in particular, to present our Modest Proposal for resolving it. The first version was presented in November 2010. Since then we have had a number of updates. Today, I have the pleasure of posting Version 3.0, a thoroughly re-worked variant […]
On CNN Int and Democracy Now, commenting of the Greek and French elections
, 09/05/2012
On Monday 7th May, a day after the French and Greek elections, I was asked to comment on both these momentous results first by Amy Goodman, of Democracy Now, and a little later that day by Christiane Amanpour, CNN International. Both interviews covered quite a lot of ground and departed from the usual epidermic coverage we […]
On China Radio International (中国国际广播电台), discussing the Greek elections
, 03/05/2012
A radio panel discussion on China Radio International discussing, for a whole hour (!), the (I am afraid) inconsequential Greek Elections that are coming up this Sunday. Click here PANEL: –Zhao Changhui, Senior analyst with the Export-Import Bank of China; –Yanis Varoufakis, Professor of Economic Theory at the University of Athens; –Nicholas Economides, Professor of […]
'Plotting' an economics' rebellion? Featured on Deutsche Welle's mini video documentary on the INET Berlin Conference
, 02/05/2012
During the INET Berlin Conference, April 2012, DW tv spent a day with me, compiling this mini documentary on the INET Conference in general and my involvement in it in particular. You can watch it here: click the video entitled Economists Planning a Revolution. [Those of you who have missed my INET address, and can […]
Interview with China's '21st Century Business Herld'
, 02/05/2012
Just interviewed by Chinese business daily 21st Century Business Herald (21世纪经济报道|). Here is the Q&A, in English of course…
A chance for happiness for Europe’s unhappy family (*)
, 27/04/2012
Europe is an unhappy family. And like all unhappy families, its diverse forms of competing miseries, afflicting differently its different members, are the reason it cannot regain its poise. Divorce is looming. Only in Europe’s case, and this is where my analogy with families breaks down, divorce can never be cathartic. It stands no chance […]
Why Won’t Germany Turn? Joseph Halevi’s insightful analysis, circa 1995
, 25/04/2012
The question οn almost everyone’s lips is: “How long before Germany recognises that a new architecture is necessary to keep the Eurozone together?” Implicit in the question is a mistaken premise: that Germany’s view of the Eurozone is wrong, that its stance is predicated upon a mistaken analysis concerning the nature of Europe’s macroeconomy. Recently, […]