Author
7783 posts 575 comments
Pressure on ECB mounts as France joins periphery stance in currency wars
French President Francois Hollande delivered an impassioned speech before the European Parliament in Strasbourg today decrying the strength and volatility of the euro exchange rate. This was the best indication that Hollande is feeling…
Greece records its first primary budget surplus excluding interest in 2012
According to Greece's finance ministry, Greece's government was able to record its first primary surplus in years. This is a measure of a budget based on revenue minus expenditure excluding interest costs and is commonly thought of a…
How the political corruption scandal in Spain mirrors one in Germany under Kohl
Europe seems to have reached the nadir economically, judging from the last few economic data points. But there is still a long way to go. In my view, Spain remains the most important country in Europe's sovereign debt crisis because of its…
China’s huge demographic challenges have already begun
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard of the Telegraph had an interesting post out yesterday on demographic trends in China. He writes that the working-age population in China is now shrinking as China ages quickly, in part due to the one-child policy.…
The sequester will happen
My thesis these past few years is that a fiscal retrenchment to reduce deficits in the US was likely to lead to a shortened business cycle. I have been saying since 2013 began that politics favoured the United States going into austerity…
On Ireland’s superior economic performance
Earlier in the week, I wrote a post on Latvia which explained why there is limited applicability of Latvia's travails with austerity for larger economies in the euro zone. One place where Latvia does have applicability, however, is Ireland.