Politics and Economics
Q&A with Esquire Magazine plus a warning for Trump, 2nd November 2017
, 03/11/2017
“It is something that people find hard to fathom, but in 1980, Greece had the lowest level of debt in Europe. We were save, save, save, like the Chinese are today. Financialization, which is a global phenomenon, hit Greece around then. Suddenly, this culture of parsimony evaporated.” AS TOLD TO ASH CARTER, NOV 2, 2017 Yanis Varoufakis, former […]
‘Talking to my daughter about the economy’ – Book review in The Guardian by Anna Minton
, 28/10/2017
Not many authors write a book in nine days, and fewer still are likely to announce it in the prologue. Yanis Varoufakis has no qualms about doing so in this brief history of capitalism, structured around the device of talking to his daughter, Xenia, not long a teenager. It was first published a few years ago, when she […]
Capitalism is making itself obsolete – The Independent (reporting on a talk at UCL)
, 18/10/2017
Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has claimed capitalism is coming to an end because it is making itself obsolete. The former economics professor told an audience at University College London that the rise of giant technology corporations and artificial intelligence will cause the current economic system to undermine itself. Mr Varoufakis, who took on EU institutions over Greek debt […]
The Promise of Fiscal Money – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 30/08/2017
ATHENS – Western capitalism has few sacred cows left. It is time to question one of them: the independence of central banks from elected governments. The rationale for entrusting monetary policy fully to central banks is well understood: politicians, overly tempted during the electoral cycle to create more money, pose a threat to economic stability. […]
The Great Crash (2007/8) ten years on – talking on BBC Radio 4’s World At One special program
, 11/08/2017
In this BBC World at One program dedicated to the Crash of 2007-8, I try, in the space of two and a half minutes, to explain why those momentous events, ten years ago, changed the world in a manner that it no longer makes sense in terms common prior to 2007. Of why I claim […]
Bifo: “I am no longer a European given Europe’s daily crimes” & “thus I resign from DiEM25”. And my response
, 08/07/2017
A few days ago, I received a letter from Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi that works like a punch-in-the-stomach type of wake up call addressed to all Europeans. To crown its tough message, Bifo concludes that his conscience cannot fathom being a European any longer, given Europe’s daily crimes against logic and humanity. Thus, Bifo concludes, he […]
A New Deal for the 21st Century – op-ed in the New York Times 6th July 2017
, 07/07/2017
ATHENS — The recent elections in France and Britain have confirmed the political establishment’s simultaneous vulnerability and vigor in the face of a nationalist insurgency. This contradiction is the motif of the moment — personified by the new French president, Emmanuel Macron, whose résumé made him a darling of the elites but who rode a wave of anti-establishment enthusiasm […]
Adults in the Room – reviewed by Adam Tooze (Columbia University)
, 02/07/2017
Reading Varoufakis: Frustrated Strategist of Greek Financial Deterrence (click here for the original site) by Adam Tooze Adam Tooze holds the Shelby Cullom Davis chair of History at Columbia University and serves as Director of the European Institute. He is currently at work on a history of the global financial crisis 2008-2018, which will appear […]
Discussing Adults in the Room with Phillip Adams, Late Night Live, ABC Radio National
, 11/05/2017
Insider account of Europe’s Establishment Economist and academic Yanis Varoufakis was always a political outsider, who gained notoriety when he challenged Europe’s political leaders, the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the IMF during Greece’s economic crisis. He exposed these leaders and institutions as being self-serving, while not considering the disastrous effects of austerity […]
EU, Brexit, Greece, the Left’s relationship with the State & Ireland: Long interview with Ben Lowry
, 25/02/2017
For the first part of the interview on News Letter’s site click here. For the second part here. Or…
Ireland may end up as collateral damage in Brexit talks – in The Journal
, 23/01/2017
Click here or…
Brexit: An unorthodox view – a Guardian Live event, 27th January 2017
, 22/01/2017
With Srećko Horvat, Elif Shafak, Yanis Varoufakis & Owen Jones A troubled Britain is on its way out of a troubled European Union. Disintegration and xenophobia are in the air. The government in London is in disarray. But so is every other government in Europe, not to mention the European Commission whose authority is tending […]
Democratising Europe – interviewed by James Lock for NOW THEN magazine
, 10/12/2016
In recent years we have seen far more of the workings behind the curtain of neoliberalism than we ever have before. This is in part, I believe, due to the work of Yanis Varoufakis. A Greek economist educated in Britain, Varoufakis first made headlines for his integral role as Finance Minister for the Syriza government […]
Παρουσίαση του βιβλίου “Η αρπαγή της Ευρώπης” των εκδόσεων Πατάκη- Δευτέρα 12 Δεκεμβρίου
, 09/12/2016
The book will be launched at 19.00 on 12th December 2016 at Parnassos Hall, Plateia Karitsi 8. Speakers include Nicholas Theocarakis (University of Athens), Thanos Mikroutsikos (Composer) and Kostas Vaxevanis (Journalist and publisher). Video messages by Noam Chomsky, James K. Galbraith, Jeff Sachs and Slavoj Zizek. (Please note that this event will be conducted in […]
Reflections on the nature & causes of global financial uncertainty – Amsterdam 4th DEC 2016
, 07/12/2016
On 4th December 2016 I delivered the keynote at the RiskMinds International risk management conference in Amsterdam. A summary of my talk, compiled by the organisers, follows.
Austerity doesn’t work, in <4 mins - from the Cambridge Union
, 02/12/2016
Click here for an 8 minute version, recorded at a later Cambridge Union event
Austerity in 8 minutes: Why it does not work. Why it is still practised
, 23/11/2016
This speech was part of a Cambridge Union debate on ‘This House Has Lost Confidence in Austerity’. See below for the video of the whole debate.
How to mobilise under & against President Trump – on WBUR Open Source Radio
, 18/11/2016
Yanis Varoufakis, Ralph Nader, Tim Barker, Donna Murch and Simon Schama, interviewed by Christopher Lydon.
New Statesman interview: The Left’s duty after Trump’s awful victory
, 15/11/2016
I had no doubt Donald Trump would win, just like I had no doubt Brexit would happen, so maybe I’m not as shell-shocked as you,” says Yanis Varoufakis. The former Greek finance minister is speaking to me several days after the Republican candidate’s historic victory. He doesn’t sound smug about being so prescient, more resigned, deflated, […]
Why America still matters
, 10/11/2016
Why is America still important? Below I copy the answer I gave in 2011 in the last chapter of The Global Minotaur: America, Europe and the Future of the World Economy. (For those not familiar with the economic meaning of my Minotaur allegory, read this.) Today, as the Trump Presidency looms, I fear that that conclusion […]
Trump’s Triumph: DiEM25 on how progressives must react
, 09/11/2016
Donald Trump’s victory marks the end of an era when a self-confident Establishment preached the end of history, the end of passion and the supremacy of a technocracy working on behalf of the 1%. But the era it ushers in is not new. It is a new variant of the 1930s, featuring deflationary economics, xenophobia […]
A Call to American Friends on the day of the US Presidential Election
, 08/11/2016
By Thomas Seibert and Yanis Varoufakis, members of DiEM25’s Coordinating Collective As in the case of Brexit, we refuse to respond in a binary manner (remain or leave, Clinton or Trump) to the question facing voters.
PSOE’s Penchant for Repeating PASOK’s Disappearing Act – El Diario (English & Spanish texts)
, 02/11/2016
el PASOK mordió el polvo por participar en el derrocamiento de su líder y, curiosamente, el PSOE ha tomado el mismo camino. EFE [For the El Diario site click here] History may repeat itself but never as quickly or as mindlessly as it does within Europe’s social democratic family. Spain’s socialists jettisoned Pedro Sánchez […]
The Universal Right to Capital Income – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 31/10/2016
ATHENS – The right to laziness has traditionally been only for the propertied rich, whereas the poor have had to struggle for decent wages and working conditions, unemployment and disability insurance, universal health care, and other accoutrements of a dignified life. The idea that the poor should be granted an unconditional income sufficient to […]