Essays
Pointless fury: Why both German and Greek politicians are wrong to be angry
, 30/01/2012
So, some German politicians put on paper that which they have been thinking of a while: Greece has become an unbearable burden and, if they are to resign themselves to continue putting their money in that particular black hole, they might as well have a say in the way it is managed on the ground. Predictably, […]
Canada’s Stark Options: Recovery or Regress?
, 26/01/2012
[Here is the speech I intend to give later today at the CCPA workshop on ‘Canada: How can we avoid a lost decade?’ ] If everything is (as economists seem to believe) relative, then Canada is doing reasonably well in the aftermath of the Crash of 2008. Its governing politicians are, of course, stretching credulity […]
The Global Economic Crisis: Can Canada Escape a Lost Decade?
, 25/01/2012
On Thursday 25th January, I shall be participating in what seems like a fascinating debate in the Canadian House of Commons. Organised by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, we shall be discussing the Crisis’ impact on Canada, the wisdom (or otherwise) of its government’s planned responses and the links between the Canadian, American, European […]
Complexity Fetishism, the Euro Crisis and a worthy challenge for 2012: Part B
, 20/01/2012
Part B: The lure of naive models in the era of financialisation (*) [(*) For the rationale of this four-part series of posts, as well as for Part A of the series, click here.] Preface: Part A of this four-part series of posts began by focusing on the problematic application of the analytic-synthetic method to socio-economic […]
A brief note on Tobin’s Tax and Merkozy’s naked cynicism
, 12/01/2012
Tobin’s financial transactions’ tax was a simple, down-to-earth, logical proposal for dealing with the ridiculous volatility that became the norm in the era of the Global Minotaur (my metaphor for the way in which the combination of US trade deficits and capital flows into Wall Street kept the global economy going between the early 1970s […]
Complexity Fetishism, the Euro Crisis and a worthy challenge for 2012: Part A
, 08/01/2012
Preface: Before 2012 once again embroils us fully into the ongoing saga of the eurozone’s Crisis and its global ramifications, I thought it might be a good idea to start the year on a reflective mood. The topic I chose is complexity and the inadequate responses to it that have landed us in a mire of […]
Ending 2011 with a fable for our times
, 23/12/2011
As 2011 is drawing to a close, with the ECB only having managed to paper over the deepening cracks of the eurozone, it is time to allow ourselves to abandon the barricades for ten days or so. If the soldiers in the Great War’s killing fields could maintain a humane ceasefire, tend to the wounded, […]
No plan for either Europe or Greece: Guest post by Jerry Goldstein
, 13/12/2011
In the interests of fostering dialogue on the issues that matter, I welcome today’s blog entry from long time contributor (and regular critic of my scribblings) Jerry Goldstein. Jerry has a strong background in banking but, and this is highly pertinent, spends most of his time in Athens.
The essence of the New Eurozone, as envisaged by the latest Treaty Change. Guest post by Joseph Halevi
, 09/12/2011
My good friend, co-author and interlocutor extraordinaire, Joseph Halevi, spends half the year in a small town on the shores of an Italian lake. Upon hearing of the latest Treaty changes to which the euro 17 nations agreed today, he sent me the following message. I can think of no better or more analytically astute […]
Two eurocrisis guest posts: Diagnosis (by Jan Toporowski) and cure (by Stuart Holland)
, 06/12/2011
While preparing for my tak at the LSE, organised by the Hellenic Observatory, I thought you may be interested in two guest posts. One is by Jan Toporowski (on the deeper causes of the eurozone crisis) and another by Stuart Holland (in which the author draws the parallel between the essence of our Modest Proposal […]
A fresh proposal for escaping the euro crisis. Guest post by Alain Parguez
, 25/11/2011
The following proposal is due to Alain Parguez, Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of Franche-Comté, Besançon-France ( www.neties.com/parguez ). Professor Parguez has been a longstanding critique of European Union affairs. His incisive critique of the eurozone’s architecture predates by many years the current Crisis. Always fascinated by his views , I am grateful for the […]
End the European Blame Game! Keynote at the British Foreign Press Association's 2011 Awards Night
, 24/11/2011
The Foreign Press Association, London, paid me the compliment of inviting me to deliver a keynote speech at its 2011 Annual Awards Night. Here is the text of my talk (kindly transcribed by a journalist that wishes to remain anonymous).
The Serpent's Egg hatchlings in Greece's postmodern Great Depression
, 18/11/2011
A brief history of the racist/fascist/neonazi penetration of Greece’s new ‘technocratic’ government It will prove George Papandreou’s ugliest legacy: that his last-minute childish maneuvering to maximise his waning hold on power (while negotiating his eviction from the PM’s job), has brought into the new ‘national unity’ government four self-declared racists (some of whom are neo-Fascists […]
On the US, European and Greek Crisis: A double act with Rick Wolff at the Brecht Forum
, 17/11/2011
On 8th November 2011, Rick Wolff invited me to a double act at the Brecht Forum (downtown NYC). Our topic: Rick gave a brilliant wrap up of the recent developments on the US Crisis front. My brief was to start with Greece before discussing more broadly the European debacle. Afterwards Costas Panayotakis commented on my […]
The Dance of the Meta-Axioms: How economics makes itself perpetually irrelevant. Today at the New School, NY
, 10/11/2011
Click here for the relevant paper: Dance of the Meta-axioms While the eurozone is dancing itself into oblivion, Greece and Italy are appointing new Prime Ministers whose greatest claim to fame was to be part of the policy mindset that brought us where we are, I am taking a break (just for today) from this incessant […]
The Euro, Greece, the World Economy: Part A of an hour long interview on 'The Agenda' with Steve Paikin (Canadian Public TV)
, 09/11/2011
The Agenda with Steve Paikin, an in-depth current affairs program on Canadian public TV, kindly afforded me an hour long interview on all aspects of the Crisis (Greece, euro, global).
Discussing the Global-European-cum-Greek-cum-Global Crisis at the Brecht Forum, NY. Tonight at 19.30
, 08/11/2011
Tonight, I shall have the pleasure of being an invitee of Professor Rick Wolff. If you are in Manhattan, please join us. Rick (the author of Capitalism Hits the Fan: The global economic meltdown and what to do about it, Northampton, Mass.: Olive Branch Press, 2010) presents a monthly series at the Brecht Forum (see below for […]
The Modest Proposal in Toronto. Today, Monday 7th November, 16.00
, 07/11/2011
7th November, University of Toronto: Invited to speak on The Euro and the European Crisis by the Munk School of Global Affairs at Toronto University. The advertisement states: “As the eurozone crisis is unfolding, threatening in the process to infect the global economy, the debate currently raging in Europe (on how to tackle the cascading defaults and insolvencies) […]
The Modest Proposal in Toronto. Today, Monday 7th November, 16.00
, 01/11/2011
7th November, University of Toronto: Invited to speak on The Euro and the European Crisis by the Munk School of Global Affairs at Toronto University. The advertisement states: “As the eurozone crisis is unfolding, threatening in the process to infect the global economy, the debate currently raging in Europe (on how to tackle the cascading defaults and insolvencies) […]
"Can't Pay, won't pay!" From Dario Fo's play to our contemporary Greek dystopia
, 22/10/2011
El Pais asked me to write a piece on the ‘fiscal disobedience’ movement that seems to be shaping up in Greece. Here is what I wrote. (I shall post the Spanish version, off El Pais’ site, when available):
Los Angeles Review of Books: On Yanis Varoufakis’s new theory of the global financial crisis, by Brian Collins
, 18/10/2011
Brian Collins honoured us (myself and my co-authors Joseph Halevi and Nicholas Theocarakis) with a long, extremely kind review which he just published in the Los Angeles Review of Books: Yanis Varoufakis, Joseph Halevi, and Nicholas Theocarakis, Modern Political Economics: Making Sense of the Post-2008 World, Routledge, July 2011. 552 pp. Yanis Varoufakis, The Global Minotaur: America, The […]
A grim assessment of Europe's Social Democratic Parties: video
, 14/10/2011
Interview (Part 4) that I gave a few weeks ago to the Scottish branch of Unite – the union. A big thank you to Peter Welsh and Andrew Brady. Below I copy their description of this interview: “Unite Scotland’s fourth and final instalment in the Varoufakis series puts focus on the failings of social democratic […]
It's a banking crisis…
, 11/10/2011
Video courtesy of Koen Aarts. Taped just after my University of Groningen presentation on 6th October 2011/