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, …
In 2012, the Pound has strengthened against the Euro – reaching a level not seen since 2008. However, the value of the Euro to Pound is still less than the peak of late 2007, when £1 reached €1.4. In June 14th, 2012 £1 = €1.24 Euros. An increase since the start of the year when …
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, …
Paul Krugman has been one of the clearest and strongest advocates of fiscal stimulus to end the recession which we have faced since the credit crisis of 2008. The basic premise of the book – ‘End This Depression Now!‘ is based on Keynesian analysis of a prolonged recession and liquidity trap. The basic argument is …
The BBC have this infographic about what happens if Greece leaves the Euro. Source: BBC But, when I look at this. Everything has already happened. Greece is already in recession. It has been in recession for past 5 years. Greece already has bank runs. Multinationals are not keeping money in Greek banks Due to unemployment …
Suppose, the Eurozone stumbles through this crisis. Suppose countries avoid leaving the Euro and endure several years of low growth and internal devaluation? What is to stop another Eurozone crisis occurring in 5 – 10 years time? I can’t see how Greece, Spain and Portugal will ever be able to thrive in the Eurozone. Unless …
The election of Francois Holland as French president is important for changing the dynamics of the EU. There is currently a strong acceptance of the need for continued austerity and fiscal targets. However, under the weight of soaring unemployment, European voters are becoming increasingly disenchanted with this recipe for low growth and high unemployment. But, …
Readers Question:… So, basically we have the FED using it’s money to liquidate the fund’s of other people, and those other people are lending, or a portion of them are lending, the fund’s that they now have because of the FED. Wouldn’t it make more sense for the FED to, instead of purchasing bonds so …