European Crisis
In Melbourne tonight: Euro Crisis as the impetus for Continental Consolidation? Or a case of Reverse Alchemy?
, 17/10/2012
Where: Monash University Law Chambers, Level 1, Seminar Room 1, 555 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne When: Tonight, 17th October 2012, at 18.00 Everyone welcome Crises have been the motive power of European integration for over six decades. Optimists see the current Euro Crisis as the disaster Europe had to have so as to give its evolutionary […]
Greek Crisis: Why There Is No Such Thing (And How To Escape It), tonight in Melbourne
, 14/10/2012
The Greek Community of Melbourne is, as is well known, the largest and best established outside of Greece. It is, therefore, an honour to have been invited to address its members in a building reeking with history but which, quite fittingly (given my topic and the times Greece is going through), is about to be… […]
On the Euro-Global Crisis: Four lectures in Australia and one in London, October 2012
, 11/10/2012
During the coming next fortnight, I shall be on a lecture tour of Australia and Britain. The first lecture will be delivered on Monday 15th October in Melbourne, at the Greek Community Centre (which will, fittingly, be demolished soon after!). Then, I shall be speaking at two CPA conferences, together with Lord Lamont (formerly Chancellor of the Exchequer) in […]
Audio of talk at Columbia Law School on the Causes and Nature of the Euro Crisis, 5th October 2012
, 11/10/2012
While the Columbia University technicians are preparing a proper podcast of my debate with Marshall Auerback (held last Friday, 5th October) on the Euro Crisis at the Columbia Law School, readers can have a pre-hearing (as opposed to a preview) of my presentation. The audio is reasonable and can be heard here: YV talk Columbia […]
Discussing the Eurozone Crisis at Columbia Law School with Marshall Auerback and Georges Ugeux; Friday 5th October, 6.15pm
, 03/10/2012
The Columbia Society for International Law Proudly Presents: Yanis Varoufakis and Marshall Auerback, moderated by Georges Ugeux DESIGN DEFECTS AND POLICY FAILURES: AN INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE EUROZONE CRISIS Part of the 2012-2013 Seminar Series on Contemporary Issues in Law and Political Economics organized by the Workers’ Rights Student Coalition, sponsored by the Richard Paul Richman Center for Business, […]
A 45' interview on the Global and Euro Crisis: Interviewed by Tom O' Brien
, 02/10/2012
Tom O’ Brien runs From Alpha to Omega, an excellent podcast-based blog focusing on political economics. He recently interviewed me on the Global and Euro Crisis. Click here to visit From Alpha to Omega, and listen to the 45′ interview. Or for a podcast uploaded on this site click here:
A Hobson’s Choice for Europe? Reply to Tom Hirst’s piece on ‘What Needs To Be Done’ in the Eurozone
, 26/09/2012
Tom Hirst, of Mindful Money, has posted a thoughtful piece on the Euro Crisis, with special emphasis on the deathtrap that Spain is now in. His analysis of the situation is spot on: so far, Europe’s responses to the Crisis have been piecemeal, disconnected from one another, and based on the denial that this is […]
Austerity-stricken Europe within a slowing global economy
, 24/09/2012
Click here for Mariana Mazuccato’s Bloomberg interview on the trouble with Europe’s austerian turn. And here for an article in Fund Strategy on the Great Global Slowdown (featuring the Global Minotaur).
Two questions for Mr Mario Monti
, 23/09/2012
A major network asked me to suggest two questions that might be put to Mr Mario Monti, Italy’s Prime Minister. Here are the ones I came up with. What do you think his answers will be? Question 1: Italy and the ECB’s OMT program: Will it help you in the medium run? Context: In the […]
Why is the Global Crisis so persistent? Q&A with Ben Hunt (of Fund Strategy) on the themes of the Global Minotaur
, 21/09/2012
Ben Hunt, of FUND STRATEGY, posed eight poignant questions to me concerning the continuing Global Crisis and touching upon various themes from my Global Minotaur. Here is a taste of the soon to be published interview: 1. What is your understanding of what has been driving the growth in the world economy (the “engine of […]
Europe’s Modern Titanomachy: How Europe’s future is being shaped by large battles on seemingly small matters (Part C)
, 17/09/2012
In this three part series (click here for Part A and here for Part B), I have cast a critical gaze upon recent developments which have caused a degree of jubilation in a continent that has not had any ‘good news’, regarding its integrity and future direction, for a while. Part A offered an overview […]
Europe’s Modern Titanomachy: How Europe’s future is being shaped by large battles on seemingly small matters (Part B)
, 13/09/2012
PART B – Mr Draghi’s nod to Euro-loyalists On 8th August 2012 the President of the ECB acknowledged that the Eurozone was at an advanced process of disintegration and, in the same breath, promised to do what it takes to put a stop to it. On September 6th came his OMT announcement that many commentators […]
Europe’s Modern Titanomachy: How Europe’s future is being shaped by large battles on seemingly small matters
, 12/09/2012
PART A – In the balance They sound technical and minor when projected against the great scheme of Europe’s extraordinarily rich history. Will there be conditionality attached to the ECB’s bond purchases? Will the bonds that it purchases be treated on a pari passu basis in relation to bonds held by private institutions? Will the […]
While awaiting Mr Draghi’s 6th September statement, a reminder: “It is the German banks, stupid!”
, 04/09/2012
In April 2011 I wrote a piece, entitled “It is the German banks stupid” in which I claimed that the primary reason why Europe was allowing a preventable debt crisis to engulf the Periphery had to do with the sorry state of the German banks and with the determination of the German government to do […]
In Praise of Public Investment: On the importance of Mariana Mazzucato’s article in The Guardian
, 03/09/2012
Two are the greatest untruths that have inflicted major damage upon our understanding of how social economies work; and, by extension, upon our societies. First, there is the pseudo-‘law’ of ‘crowding out’; i.e. the illusory belief that when public investment increases private investment suffers. Secondly, there is a widespread misconception that, under capitalism, value is […]
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.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]