Tag Archives: euro
My New Year wishes
The world economic recovery remains fragile and could easily be derailed by renewed financial turmoil. My first wish is a terminological one – please, can we find a more useful word or phrase to describe what has happened? The word “crisis” and the phrases “financial crisis” , “great financial crisis”, “Global Financial Crisis” ,…
» Continue Reading
Why Asia fears new currency war
The territory will be different – the sides will measure their gains and losses in terms of fractions of an exchange rate movement rather than yards of muddy land in Flanders. But the implications could be far-reaching. Nothing less than the future shape and health of the world economy is at stake. The…
» Continue Reading
Eurozone to lead world out of the money trap?
There is a long, long way to go. But confidence is gradually returning to the eurozone – confidence that at least a break-up of the eurozone will be avoided (thought his does not exclude the possibility that Greece may leave). The fall in spreads on Spanish and Italian bonds over German bunds is one…
» Continue Reading
Central banks remain stuck in the trap
Mervyn King has mounted a defence of inflation targeting. Monetary policy, he claims, is part of the solution to the crisis, not part of the problem. This view was echoed by many official spokesmen at the recent IMF meeting in Tokyo. Christine Lagarde praised the central banks. There are quite minor…
» Continue Reading
Volcker, Lagarde, Rees-Mogg and the Ikon
Lord Rees-Mogg, former editor of The Times, London and doyen of British commentators, has called for a reform of the global financial system (GFS). Rees-Mogg quotes Paul Volcker, who in a recent interview described the present period as one of the most difficult in history: “This is a recession on top of a complete financial…
» Continue Reading
Towards the next crash
The political tide is backing off the banks. Few politicians in Europe or the US are willing to support moves for more radical reform. They just want to get the banks lending again. In practice, that means pressing banks to accept the risk of big bad debts down the road…and so set the stage for…
» Continue Reading
Nicolas Krul writes:
Picking up on Robert’s last story, we must look to the ECB to restore trust in financial intermediation. Yes, the developed world faces another year of stagnation and interacting imbalances that amplify risk aversion and spread the fear of spending. But there is no surprise in the new setback. With budgets in disarray and rising…
» Continue Reading
The world needs a new currency
The following article by Robert Pringle was published by The Christian Science Monitor on July 27. The financial crisis, the 2008/09 recession, the banking scandals that have followed, and today’s limping recovery are all linked. The common factor is the absence of a real international monetary and banking order. Only when such an order is restored will…
» Continue Reading
What the G20 should do at Los Cabos
“The global recovery has stalled again as confidence in policy makers’ ability to provide conditions for growth has slipped away” writes Chris Giles of the Financial Times, in his report from Los Cabos on the opening day of the G20 meeting there. According to the latest FT/Brookings Institution Tiger Index, world economic growth is stalling…
» Continue Reading
Will the Euromark be Europe’s Future?
The German government is being told by everybody outside Germany – and by many inside it – to rescue the euro. It must do so, according to the critics, by expanding demand, underwriting the issue of eurobonds, taking responsibility for feckless countries like Greece, bailing out dumb bankers, and backstopping extravagant, irresponsible governments. That is…
» Continue Reading