Europe

Events continue to spiral beyond the control of European policy-makers. With so much time and effort being put into Greece, the troika now finds itself facing a much bigger problem: Italy. While it has been difficult to remain committed…

Here’s an interpretation of the euro zone I have been meaning to run by you and I touched on it in the update to my post on how austerity in Europe works. In a fixed exchange rate environment like the euro area, you don’t have currency…

The guys at Brown Brothers Harriman said this morning that we shouldn’t expect much from the G-20. They seem pretty pessimistic about the politics in Greece too. If you want a visual representation of what they’re saying, here you go.

Markets are cautiously optimistic ahead of Greek confidence vote, US payrolls and G20. US private payrolls expected to increase by 125k; Greek headlines still likely to drive price action. G20 unlikely to deliver much in terms of policy…

"Yesterday, the headline in the Frankfurter Zeitung was “Democracy is Junk.” The meaning was the financial sector was saying that democracy is incompatible with collecting debts and, when debtors can’t pay, with foreclosing on the public…

Harvard Economist Kenneth Rogoff has a post up at Project Syndicate which does a good job in laying out the conundrum that Europe faces in the sovereign debt crisis. He theme is exchange rates and currency revulsion. But the underlying…

"The treaties indeed confirm what we have been saying here: the treaty doesn't foresee an exit from the euro zone without exiting the EU, so indeed that is the current situation." -European Commission spokeswoman Karolina…

This post describes how austerity works in the European Monetary System where the euro is used as a currency. I will start by framing the difference between currency users and currency creators, then move to how central banks and government…

"Based on its regular economic and monetary analyses, the Governing Council decided to reduce the key ECB interest rates by 25 basis points."

I had been willing to dismiss the rumours that Greece was forestalling a military coup. Others have since said the change in top brass is standard protocol for a Greek government preparing for its potential loss of power and that the…