DiEM25
Open letter to a good friend and colleague (who happened to become Greece’s Finance Minister yesterday…)
, 27/06/2012
Dear Yanni, On the one hand I am writing to congratulate you. And on the other to express my disdain towards those who handed my friend the good ship’s wheel after the vessel has struck the iceberg. Utterly familiar with your effervescent optimism, I know you mean it when you declare confidence in Greece’s capacity […]
Greece is ungovernable (while the euro's derailment continues): On ABC tv 7.30 Report
, 26/06/2012
Following the latest Greek election, I was interviewed on the ABC’s 7.30 Report. In the interview (which you can watch here), I presented a gloomy, yet realistic, view that it really matters little now what happens in Greece. “Greece is finished”, I argued, as long as the derailment of Europe’s euro-system is proceeding unhindered. Read […]
And the Good Ship Greece Sails On: ‘Letter’ to an italian colleague
, 24/06/2012
A few weeks ago I was approached by Andrea Adriatico, a theatre director from Bologna’s Teatri Di Vita with an interesting request: Could I write a ‘letter’ to some fictional Italian economics professor, outlining on a colleague-to-colleague basis, the Greek ‘situation’ as it is experienced by a Greek economics professor. That letter would then be read […]
Greece, Italy, Spain, Germany in the shadow of a disintegrating euro: Interviewed by Doug Henwood
, 22/06/2012
Click here for the 30 minute interview (and look for the 21st June show).
Mariana Mazzucato on the role of the EIB in spurring Investment-led Growth
, 21/06/2012
Professor Mariana Mazzucato, of Sussex University, has produced pivotal research on the role that public financing plays in fostering not only investment but also competition. Here she is appearing on Bloomberg to explain the importance of the European Investment Bank as a potential driver of growth, innovation and competition in the European Union. She also […]
My duel with Deutsche Bank exec, Wolfgang Nowak (on CBC Radio)
, 21/06/2012
Here is my reply to Wolfgang Nowak, Deutsche Bank executive and former Merkel advisor, telling CBC that Greece should be thrown out of the Eurozone. Click here for Mr Nowak’s audio
We don’t need more time to hang ourselves – on CNN Int's Amanpour show, last night
, 20/06/2012
Click here for a brief clip and CNN’s own blog on this interview. (CNN) – In the aftermath of its most recent election, will Greece remain in the eurozone, and will a pro-bailout government begin a recovery? Yanis Varoufakis, Professor of Economics at the University of Athens doesn’t think so: “Even if God, his angels and every […]
The Greek Election as a manifestation of Europe’s Hobbesian Moment
, 19/06/2012
The frenzy of reporting the Greek election is coming to a close. The world is now, quite understandably, swivelling its antennae toward Spain, Italy, Mexico and the G20. It is, therefore, a good moment to take stock of the main lesson the Greek crisis’ recent twist should teach a wary world: Beware of free riders […]
Interviewed by Robert Wright on the Euro Crisis
, 18/06/2012
Extensive interview with Robert Wright (author of The Evolution of God, Nonzero) on the Euro and Greek Crisis – for bloggingheads.tv. Click here.
Greek Election Result: An assessment
, 18/06/2012
Greek voters gave their contradictory verdict: While 55% voted for parties that stood explicitly against the ‘bailout’ terms and conditions, a pro-’bailout’ government is about to be formed – such is the nature of Greece’s electoral system (which rewards the largest party with a bonus of 50 additional MPs in the 300 seat chamber). The […]
Message to the BBC and assorted international media on this Greek Election Day: Try to recover your journalistic principles even at the eleventh hour!
, 17/06/2012
Over the past 48 hours, as Greek voters are mulling over their options prior to entering the polling stations, the international media have indulged in a frenzy of disinformation and scaremongering. Gone is the nuanced reporting of the BBC, nowhere to be seen the critical approach to the Euro Crisis that the rest of the […]
Ponzi Austerity: Interviewed on the Keiser Report
, 15/06/2012
Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert interviewed me, on the Keiser Report, on my notion of Ponzi Austerity, with particular reference to Spain, Ireland and Greece. Watch the video below and let me know what you think. But before you watch it, allow me to state one disagreement of mine with Max and Stacy’s interpretation. Max […]
Is the ECB's Target2 critical for the euro's future? A debate between Felix Salmond and Marshall Auerback
, 14/06/2012
Following Marshall Auerback’s guest post on the problem with Target2, and how it can potentially lead the German Constitutional Court to throw a spanner in the works of the euro system, Felix Salmon published an interesting article arguing that all this fuss about Target2 is the result of a misunderstanding of what Central Banks do […]
GERMANY’S CONSTITUTIONAL CONUNDRUM: Guest post by Marshall Auerback
, 13/06/2012
Hans-Werner Sinn, president of Germany’s Ifo Institute and the director of the Center for Economic Studies at the University of Munich, has taken to the pages of the NY Times to explain why Berlin is balking on a further bailout for Europe. Amongst the points that Sinn makes against German sharing in the debt of the [...]Euro-Australia: An instructive counter-factual
, 12/06/2012
In this counter-factual history I narrate (in ‘real time’) the disintegration that would have befallen the Federation of Australia if, in 1901, its founding fathers had used the Eurozone as a template. (A piece commissioned by www.theconversation.edu.au)
Spain’s Blood Wedding, Ireland’s Muted Rage, Europe’s tragedy
, 10/06/2012
Federico Garcia Lorka’s 1932 play The Blood Wedding (Bodas de Sangre) focused on a wedding that, in the end, never took place. It symbolised the long shadow cast by a hidden crime upon the nation’s dallying with the prospect of deliverance. It also foreshadowed the tragic events that consumed, not just the playwright, but the […]
In conversation with Rob Johnson (INET Chairman) on the Global Minotaur, the Slump, US and Europe
, 08/06/2012
A few weeks ago, while in New York, Rob Johnson (Chair of the Institute of New Economic Thinking) invited me to their offices where we recorded a conversation on my The Global Minotaur, the true causes of the Crash of 2008, the reasons why the global economy cannot find its poise after that momentous Crash, […]
Solidarity Euro-Style: Finnish loans, ECB bond purchases, EFSF tough love and assorted horror stories from the postmodern Euro-Workhouse
, 07/06/2012
The world seems convinced that Europe, perhaps under duress, put together a large Solidarity Fund (the EFSF) for the purposes of helping the fiscally-stricken Eurozone member-states avoid bankruptcy once they were frozen out of the money markets. The criticisms waged at this type of ‘solidarity’ centred on two issues: First, that the Fund’s size was […]
Discussing SYRIZA with Die Zeit
, 06/06/2012
Syriza handelt verantwortungsvoll Der deutsche Steuerzahler solle sich über die radikale Linke in Griechenland freuen, sagt der Ökonom Yanis Varoufakis im Interview. Das Land sei nicht reformunwillig. ZEIT ONLINE: Herr Varoufakis, die Griechen wollen mehrheitlich den Euro behalten, wählen aber mit Syriza und ihrem Spitzenkandidaten Alexis Tsipraseine Partei, deren Pläne zu einem Austritt aus der Währungsunion führen könnten . […]
Why Europe should fear Fine Gael-like ‘reasonableness’ much, much more than it fears Syriza
, 03/06/2012
The establishment view in Europe is that the problem is too much debt (by profligate countries like Greece) and, therefore, that the solution must involve (a) austerity and (b) structural reforms (which increase the competitiveness of the weaker states). The problem, however, is that the establishment view is profoundly mistaken and, as a result, the […]
Italy’s Own Goal: Guest post by Joseph Halevi
, 03/06/2012
The Eurozone’s idiocy is obvious to all those with eyes and ears. It can be witnessed anywhere we turn these days: from the evolving bank run to the non-debate on eurobonds. Joseph Halevi, friend, co-author and serial guest of this blog, just sent me a missive that offers new insights into our continent’s infinite inanity: […]
Reply No. 2 (YV2) to Kantoos Economics on the merits of the Modest Proposal
, 01/06/2012
Kantoos Economics (KE) just posted the first installment of a reply to my long rejoinder to his original comment on our Modest Proposal.[1] Two are the main point raised by KE, and to which I respond below: One concerns the tradeoff between (a) maintaining market pressure on member-states to keep their public debt under wraps […]
From Ponzi Growth to Ponzi Austerity
, 31/05/2012
Austerity is meant as a belt-tightening exercise the purpose of which is to reduce debt. Pure and simple. Of course, for austerity to work one of the following two conditions must hold.