Sovereign debt crisis going from bad to worse
byThe eurozone continues to keep us in suspense in the wake of the French elections, and pending the second Greek election in as many…
Greece
Thoughts on the Greek crisis and the politicization of economics
byShould the Greeks have a referendum on whether they want to stay in the euro? Are the upcoming elections such a referendum? Would it…
Europe’s voters say ‘No’ to economic reality
by“Europe fights back against austerity” was how The Daily Telegraph headlined its weekend election coverage. Anti-austerity movements are gathering pace across Europe following political…
Eurozone banks and contagion risk
byGreece has now defaulted, and other eurozone governments as well as agencies such as the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Investment…
My big fat Greek bailout
byGreece was bailed out for the second time in four months. Or did it default? Well, a bit of both, I guess. All bondholders…
The way forward for Greece
byLast Monday night, before the US markets opened after President’s Day, bailout terms for Greece were announced. The detail is secondary to assessing whether…
Gordon Kerr critiques the Greek bailout on Bloomberg
byI was glad to see Cobden Partners’ Gordon Kerr on Bloomberg yesterday, explaining why the Greek bailout will fail: As I wrote elsewhere, the…
Pensions and fiscal reform
byEuropean countries offer a variety of pension schemes. For our purposes here, I want to draw attention to the variety of public participation rates…
A rush from sugar or a rush to gold?
by“We think we have an agreement, but we are not sure what it is.” – Negotiator at the Euro zone “crisis summit” last week,…
Greece: deflate or default
byThe original worry was whether Greece would default. Then it became a question whether it should it default. Now it is a question of…