English
Radio Exarcheia: A collaborative art project, opening this week in Melbourne, Australia
, 02/09/2012
Just received from Tom Nicholson, an excellent Melbourne-based artist, the following brief on a collaborative art project that touches upon the Greek economic crisis in a manner that acts as an apt reminder of the unique capacity that art has to cast the worst aspects of the human condition in fresh and insightful light. The […]
The Global Minotaur just published in Italian
, 29/08/2012
The Global Minotaur has just been published in Italian under the title Il Minotauro Globale: L’America, le vere origini della crisi e il futuro dell’economia globale. Thanks to my Italian publisher for this opportunity to reach a wider audience in yet another proud nation that is continuing, with increasing intensity, to feel the repercussions of the […]
The three conditions for the ECB to cap spreads successfully: and why they will not be met
, 23/08/2012
Adam Smith believed that it was part of human nature to truck, barter and exchange. I am not so sure that he is quite right. What I do observe, however, is that it is in the ‘nature’ of the ECB Council to dither, dawdle and evade.
On BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ Programme discussing the Greek government’s request for a two year extension to Bailout Mk2
, 22/08/2012
Click here for the interview
A warning from the past: N. Kaldor on the Eurozone
, 20/08/2012
They say that bright minds see well into the future, unimpaired by models, simulations and computational statistics. As evidence of this, consider the following lines from 1971. They was written by Nicholas Kaldor, a highly esteemed Cambridge economist who passed away in the mid-1980s. Discussing the prospect of a United States of Europe, which he […]
Latest Q&A on our Modest Proposal:
, 19/08/2012
Mindful Money has just published an interview in which I answer three of their questions on the Modest Proposal and its differences from the plan to bolster the Eurozone by granting a banking licence to the EFSF-ESM. Click here for the complete article or read on for the barebones Q&A…
What Mr Draghi should be aiming at: Or how to move from Ponzi Austerity to Rational Crisis Management by a stepwise implementation of the Modest Proposal
, 17/08/2012
Ponzi growth happens when unsustainable capital flows, wilfully predicated upon funding schemes that Reason knows to be fraudulent, give rise to large spurts of economic activity. Ponzi austerity, in contrast, is what happens when unsustainable spending cuts, wilfully predicated upon funding schemes that Reason knows to be fraudulent, cause significant drops in economic activity. (Click […]
Punishment or Aid? Holland’s TROUW newspaper sets up a debate between myself and Hans Werner Sinn
, 17/08/2012
You may recall the mental experiment that I suggested for working out the true, underlying mood towards Greece (and the rest of the Periphery). Now TROUW has published that piece, in translation of course, and has juxtaposed against Hans Werner Sinn’s take (which comes as close to confirming, in my biased eyes, the point I […]
A Modest Proposal for Resolving the Euro Crisis: an abridged version as published by the Financial Times On Line
, 17/08/2012
by Yanis Varoufakis[1] and Stuart Holland[2] (click here for the full version of our Modest Proposal) The Eurozone is disintegrating under the weight of three intertwined crises unfolding in the realms of banking, public debt and under-investment & internal imbalances. For two years each and every response by Europe’s leadership to the crisis proved consistently underwhelming. The [...]Convertibility Risk: Acknowledged but not addressed
, 06/08/2012
Further to my previous post on Mr Draghi’s recent undermining of the Office of ECB President, Gavyn Davies of the FT penned the following line: “It is risky for a central banker to acknowledge that the payments system on which the currency stands may not be fully credible. Mr Draghi could simply have repeated the old […]
The week when Mr Draghi greatly diminished the office of ECB President and sacrificed the fiscal-monetary policy distinction
, 03/08/2012
First came the impressive declarations: The ECB will do whatever is necessary to ensure that those who go short on the euro, who bet on its disintegration, will lose. “And, believe me”, he added “it will be enough”. He also, rather significantly, uttered the term ‘convertibility risk’ (code-words for the risk that funds kept in […]
Depression in the Eurozone’s Periphery and how to restore Aggregate Demand without creating new bubbles: My reply to Kantoos Economics
, 30/07/2012
Preamble: Kantoos Economics recently posted an article discussing points of agreement and points of disagreement between us regarding the restoration of growth in Greece, both in the short and in the long run. Here is my reply. The problem with any Crisis is that it eliminates the type of scarcity which helps two crucial markets […]
23 crucial days for Greece
, 28/07/2012
On 20th August, the Greek government will have to borrow 3.2 billion from one arm of the Eurozone (from the EFSF) in order to repay another (the ECB). Yet Greece is insolvent. The very idea of an insolvent entity borrowing more from a community, like the Eurozone, in order to repay that same community is […]
A Mental Experiment for establishing the relative mood for solving the Crisis in Europe, in Britain & in the USA
, 23/07/2012
I have a hunch: that the Eurozone’s profound difference to both the United States and Britain is that, unlike these anglosaxon ‘currency unions’, the Eurozone’s real elite does not want the Crisis to disappear quickly and painlessly. In this post I offer a mental experiment that will help each and every reader rule on the […]
On the solvability of the Euro Crisis and the mood in Germany: Concluding my debate with Kantoos Economics
, 22/07/2012
Kantoos Economics (KE) replied to my post on what constitutes a rational and decent critique of Germany’s stance during this Euro Crisis. After a series of exchanges between us, I think that this dialogue is now reaching its natural limits (click the following for a blow by blow perusal of our debate: KE1 was KE’s original […]
What the EIB makes the ECB unmakes: The latest from the Greek front
, 22/07/2012
“We just showed that good news is possible in Greece”, said a beaming Greek minister the other day when it was announced that the European Investment Bank (EIB) was about to start funding investments in Greece again, after it withdrew toward the end of 2011 (in fear of losing its triple-A rating by associating itself […]
Bankruptocracy in the Greek Sector of Bailoutistan: The aftermath of the Reuters Report on Piraeus Bank
, 18/07/2012
You may have read the shocking story by Reuters on the ponzi scheme three (or more) Greek banks concocted in order to seem to raise more capital, without diluting the bankers’ stake in ‘their’ bankrupt banks. I have nothing to add to this excellent report by the folks at Reuters (except perhaps to suggest that […]
It is now official: The Eurozone's monetary transmission system is broken
, 17/07/2012
Under normal conditions, the interest rates that you and I must pay on a home loan, a car loan, our credit card, a business loan are pegged onto two crucial rates. One is the rate that banks charge one another in order to borrow from each other. The other is the Central Bank’s overnight rate. Alas, […]
Review of the Global Minotaur by Raja Junankar, for the ELRR
, 16/07/2012
This review of the Global Minotaur (click here for the Global Minotaur page) is special to me. The reason? Raja Junankar was one of the lecturers at the University of Essex while an undergraduate, back in the mists of time (1978-1981). Later, when I returned to Essex (after a year at Birmingham University), it was Raja who […]
'The Global Minotaur': A 'Great Transformation' for our Times – Review by Boris Stremlin for Left Eye On Books
, 12/07/2012
Left Eye on Books just published a generous and detailed review of my Global Minotaur authored by Boris Stremlin.
Interviewed by Doug Henwood on my new position as Economist-In-Residence at Valve Software
, 11/07/2012
A discussion with Doug Henwood on why I accepted the position of Economist-In-Residence at Valve Software. Jump to 33’40” to hear my take on the company’s anarchosyndicalist management structure and the scope for original economic research it provides. (Please forgive the poor sound quality – courtesy of a low quality skype line). See also this […]
Criticising Germany: Three principles for the fair assessment of proud nations
, 09/07/2012
Generalising is the first step toward racism. Every sentence beginning with “The Germans believe this” or “The Greeks do that” is an initial slide on a slippery slope leading, eventually, to bigotry. As I have argued before (click here for a video version) there is no such thing as the Germans, or the Brits, or the Greeks […]