austerity

From the IMF to the G20, from bloggers to Nobel prize winning economists, there have been calls for the major developed countries to reduce deficits and stabilize debt to GDP ratios.  The idea is that if this is done properly it need…

A post on the latest economics debates by Claus Vistesen Steve Waldman has a very good post this week about the folly about the austerity vs non-austerity discussion which seems to be going the rounds at the moment. In fact, it you take a…

Ireland, the first euro zone country to fall into a recession in 2008, reported today that Q1 GDP expanded by 2.7% from Q4 09.  While the headline is impressive, even if Q4 09 was revised to show a 2.7% contraction rather than -2.3%…

The G20 meeting did not provide much in the way of fresh trading incentives.  However, there were a couple of developments that were noteworthy. The most important of these is the balance struck between growth and fiscal…

More on Stimulus and Austerity In The Long Run, We Are Still All Dead - Paul Krugman Blog - NYTimes.com Stimulus, Austerity, and the Spiral of Decline - Daily Reckoning FT.com Mohamed El-Erian - Beyond the false growth vs…

It's not my position. But I would think someone would articulate it. It sounds like what Mark Thoma would advocate, for example. That is, someone could advocate: 1 A larger deficit in the short term. 2. Specific, clear…

G-20 Thoughts I am going to be talking about the G-20 tomorrow at 700 London Time/1200 East Coast Time on BBC World News. The key issue is fiscal consolidation. I am taking the German side of this (see Why I am siding with the Germans on…

I am going to take the German side of the argument on the euro zone’s need for fiscal consolidation. It’s not that I like wearing a hair-shirt. Hardly. It’s because the Europeans have no other choice if they are to avoid higher interest…

German daily Die Zeit published comments from an interview with famed US hedge fund investor George Soros who was sharply critical of German economic policy.  Soros claimed that Germany was "isolated" in its austere…

Highlights The US dollar is little changed against most of the major foreign currencies, but sterling continues to respond favorably to yesterday’s budget.  News that for the first time since Aug 08 a BOE member (Sentence) called…