The purpose of harmonised competitive indicators is to show changes in relative competitiveness of countries. They are are also consistent with the real effective exchange rates (EERs) of the euro. This shows the divergence in competitiveness between a country like Germany De (improved competitiveness) and other countries like Greece and Ireland which have seen higher …
Readers Question: What policies could Germany / the EU use to help save the Euro? The Euro has many problems. The most obvious outer problem is rising bond yields and the threat of sovereign debt default. Related to sovereign debt default is a banking default, e.g. from Spanish banks which would cause knock-on effects. But, …
Typically, a recession will lead to a negative output gap and lower inflation. However, after the recession is over, the economy can usually bounce back and recover this temporary loss of output. However, this ‘great recession’ is different in that there has been no bounce – only a prolonged recession – suggesting the usual expectations …
Readers Question: With talk of a Greek exit from the Euro, the situation is almost always compared to Argentina in the 1980s and 90s. Can you explain what happened there and how it was resolved. In the 1980s, Argentina built up substantial debt and also suffered from periods of very high inflation. To stabilise inflation, …
One thing I really struggle to understand at the moment is why any country would want to join the Euro. The experience of the past few years is that membership of the Euro can devastate your economy. Given a chance, half of the members of the Euro would wish they had never joined. Greece, Spain, …
One of the great challenges facing Europe is the persistence and increase in levels of unemployment. The highest rates of youth unemployment are in Spain (51%) and Greece (51%). Other countries include Italy 35%, France 21%, UK 21%, Portugal 36% Youth Unemployment in the UK This shows how youth unemployment in UK has increased since …
Preliminary figures for Q1 2012 show the UK has re-entered recession, with a second successive quarter of negative economic growth. The negative economic growth occurred despite a small growth in the service sector and spurt in retail sales of petrol. The biggest factor contributing to the negative economic growth came from the construction sector, which …
Readers Question: Why is the current recession in Europe so bad? The recession in the Eurozone is one of the deepest recessions on record. For example, Greece are expecting 2013 to be the sixth consecutive year in recession (with on and off quarters of recovery)- this is one of the longest recession on record. Output …