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Interviewed by Carmen Aristegui, CNN Mexico, on Mexico's financial and energy sector reforms
, 05/09/2013
Click on the photo or here
Klaus Kastner replies (adds) to my Mexico City talk
, 05/09/2013
When in Mexico City last week, I argued in favour of financial sector reforms (see previous post) that impose minimum equity limits on the TBTF banks (or SIFIs) while treating very differently (almost motherly) small, local banks, helping establish a rich ecology of local capital recyclers. Klaus Kastner, who has contributed variously in this blog, […]
Global Banks as exporters of Permanent Credit Crunches to Peripheral Economies: The case of Mexico
, 05/09/2013
The speech below was delivered on 29th August 2013 at ITAM, Mexico City, in the context on a conference on planned financial sector reforms in Mexico; organised by IMEF (the Mexican Institute of Finance Executives), in collaboration with UNIFIM (a confederation of Mexican owned financial institutions). For an audio of my talk click For the text…
Was Chancellor Merkel right (about Greece)?
, 02/09/2013
Is Chancellor Merkel right when she recently said: “Greece should not have been admitted into the euro area”?
In Mexico City
, 30/08/2013
Just a quick note for regular readers to explain my recent ‘silence’. I am in Mexico City, invited by Adalberto Palma, CEO of UNIFIM (a confederation of Mexican owned financial institutions, and IMEF (the Mexican Institute of Finance Executives), to participate in the current debates on Mexico’s forthcoming financial sector reforms. A major tussle has […]
A salutory warning to those who think Greece is none of their business
, 21/08/2013
The back cover of a portuguese magazine dedicated to politics and critical thinking recently depicted a car mirror in which a Greek flag was clearly visible, complete with the sign: WARNING – OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR. With no further comment from me…
Looking back on the Global, European and Greek (post-2008) crises: Interview with D. Polymenopoulos
, 17/08/2013
Dimitris Polymenopoulos interviewed me recently on behalf of Greek-American newspaper The Greek Star. Click here for the original source or read on…
Three brief Greek summer tales
, 13/08/2013
As a child, I was fascinated by my mother’s, and her mother’s, tales from the 1940s, and in particular their stories about life under the Nazi occupation. It is perhaps not a coincidence that children’s books used to be replete with grim tales of murder, dismemberment and assorted horrors.
"The Kosovisation of Greece", by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, THE TELEGRAPH
, 10/08/2013
Readers of this blog will recall that, years ago, I was predicting that the (mis)handling of the Euro Crisis by Brussels-Berlin-Frankfurt would cause parts of the Eurozone Periphery (Greece in particular) to metamorphosise into versions of Kosovo. This reference of mine has, I must add, upset friends in Kosovo. My message to them is to […]
David Laibman reviews The Global Minotaur
, 06/08/2013
David Laibman, editor of Science & Society (the oldest academic journal of Marxist scholarship), has recently authored a review of The Global Minotaur.
Klaus Kastner gives up on the Eurozone (and Greece's prospects of recovering within)
, 02/08/2013
Klaus Kastner has been in regular correspondence with me and with readers of this blog. A thoughtful commentator, he has held on to the thought that Greece can be revived within the Eurozone under the current mix of ‘fiscal consolidation’ policies. From the outset, he seems to have appreciated some aspects of our Modest Proposal […]
Athens – Birthplace of our Globalising Wall: Our second contribution to the Witte de With Review
, 01/08/2013
Athens: Birthplace of our globalising wall This is the second article that vitalspace.org and I have contributed to the Witte de With Review (an initiative of Rotterdam-based Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art). Readers of this blog will recognise a theme that is close to our hearts: the globalisation of harsh divisions (for a reminder see here, here and here). The added twist here […]
James Galbraith on Europe, Greece (and Syriza), Germany and America
, 30/07/2013
What follows is the extended, English language, version of James Galbraith’s recent interview with Roger Strassburg published in NachDenkSeiten. Enjoy:
The Germany Europe and the World Need – my article in HANDELSBLATT
, 29/07/2013
A few months ago, I wrote an article under the title ‘Europe Needs an Hegemonic Germany’. Handelsblatt, the respected German daily, has now picked it up and published it on 24th July 2013. (Many thanks are due to Stephen Richter, of The Globalist, for his copy-editing and support. And for posting a version of this […]
Pleased to announce that the Czech edition of the Global Minotaur is now out
, 29/07/2013
Click here or on the icon below
Don't mention the war? A reader's objection to Stuart Holland's piece, with a rejoinder
, 27/07/2013
A German reader objected most strongly to Stuart Holland’s reply to Mr Schuable’s Guardian piece and, in particular, to Stuart’s discussion of Gestalt Psychology plus his reference to the awful ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ slogan. Here I present the reader’s objection in full. With a reply that I scripted.
Guilt, debt and interest rates: A comment on double moral standards
, 27/07/2013
Moralising is not a good foundation for macroeconomic policy, especially at a time of Crisis. Still, moral objections to sound policy recommendations must be taken seriously as they have the potential to prevent their adoption, with terrible consequences for all. Here, I respond to a Portuguese reader’s question regarding double standards in the moral assessment […]
Six critical responses to the Modest Proposal – now with our rejoinders
, 26/07/2013
Following his article on the Modest Proposal 4.0, Jorge Nascimento Rodrigues invited six economists to comment on it. Here are their responses. With rejoinders added by myself and Stuart Holland.
Debt, Guilt and German History: A Reply to Wolfgang Schäuble, by Stuart Holland
, 26/07/2013
On 19th July Mr Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister, published an article in The Guardian entitled We Germans don’t want a German Europe. Two days later I responded by annotating his article while colleague, co-author and friend Stuart Holland wrote the following reply (published in Il Foglio in Italian – click here). As it is a poignant article, I […]
More on the debt conversion policy in Modest Proposal 4.0
, 26/07/2013
Portuguese readers have returned (see this and this, for the original Q&As) with two more questions on the Modest Proposal‘s limited debt conversion policy (with which we believe the Eurozone’s debt crisis could be dealt a decisive blow). I do not understand quite well the “moral “ difference between mutualizing the debt above Maastricht rule […]
Can Greece get out of the Eurozone now? Should it? Comments on Munchau and Sinn
, 24/07/2013
Portuguese journalist Jorge N. Rodrigues noticed a revival in talk about a velvet divorce between Greece and the Eurozone. So, he asked me to comment on two articles in the Financial Times, one by Wolfgang Munchau the other by Hans-Werner Sinn. Here are my responses:
On the legality, mechanics and effectiveness of the Modest Proposal’s policy regarding the Eurozone’s debt crisis
, 22/07/2013
Our Q&As on aspects on the Modest Proposal 4.0 continue here with a barrage of pertinent questions posed by a Slovak reader. They concern our recommended Limited Debt Conversion Programme (Policy 2 here) with which we believe the Eurozone’s debt crisis can be resolved. (Tomorrow’s post continues the conversation turning to the issue of moral harazed, […]
THE ANNOTATED WOLFGANG SCHÄUBLE – Commentary on his Guardian article, 19th July 2013
, 21/07/2013
On 19th July Mr Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister, published an article in The Guardian entitled We Germans don’t want a German Europe. The article was written hours after Mr Schäuble left Athens, following a controversial visit during which he told Greeks to expect no relief and to stick to the script written three and a […]