Filter by
4203 results found
-
BlogIs the ECB Powerless or Unwilling? (Ctd)
Relevant to the question of the legal limits of relying on the European Central Bank as lender of last resort, Tyler Durden observes Jens Weidmann, head of the Bundesbank, defending the narrow view of the ECB’s role in a recent Financial Times interview: FT: Can you explain why the ECB cannot be lender of last [...] -
Blog
Keynes vs. Schmeynes Debate
If you missed last week’s Reuters-sponsored Keynes vs. Hayek debate at the Asia Society, video of the event is attached below, beginning with James Galbraith’s contribution. The debate, predictably, ended up being more about the last two-and-a-half years of economic policy. Note also the way in which this turns into a Democratic Keynesianism vs Republican [...] -
Blog
Is This the End of the EMU?
(cross posted at EconoMonitor) For more than a decade, I’ve been arguing that the EMU was designed to fail. It was based on the pious hope that markets would not notice that member states had abandoned their currencies when they adopted the euro, thereby surrendering fiscal and monetary policy to the center. The problem was [...] -
Blog
Underutilized Workers Outnumber Job Openings 7 to 1
(Click to enlarge.) The most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data released this month show an increase in the number of job openings available throughout the United States, as reported by Catherine Rampell in the New York Times “Economix” blog. As of the end of September, there were 3.8 unemployed people per job opening, [...] -
Blog
Is the ECB Powerless to Rescue Europe, or Just Unwilling?
1) Marshall Auerback, at New Economic Perspectives, digs into the issue of whether the ECB is legally permitted to engage in the sort of “lender of last resort” activities that many think are key to mitigating this crisis: The notion that it cannot act as lender of last resort is disingenuous: The ECB does have [...] -
Blog
“Posh Cambridge Forecaster” Sees Through the Euro
Here is another flattering mention of Wynne Godley‘s prescient writings on the euro, this time from John Cassidy’s blog at the New Yorker. (Cassidy sat in on the Keynes side of this week’s “Keynes vs. Hayek” debate.) Many of Godley’s publications at the Levy Institute (“haven for heterodox thought,” as Cassidy calls it), including his [...] -
Blog
Minsky and the Economics Profession
There’s an interesting (and unsettling) section of Martin Mayer’s presentation at the Minsky Conference that I’ll quote at length in which he talks about the reception of Hyman Minsky’s work. Add this to the growing “what’s wrong with the economics profession?” folder: I have found my own explanation, rather a disturbing one, for Hy’s relative [...] -
Blog
Minsky Conference Proceedings
The 20th Annual Hyman P. Minsky Conference, organized by the Levy Institute with support from the Ford Foundation, featured a broad range of speakers, including Gary Gensler (CFTC Chairman—occasioning some interesting back-and-forth in Q&A regarding commodities speculation), Paul McCulley, Andrew Sheng, Phil Angelides, Charles Plosser, Gary Gorton, Charles Evans, Vitor Constancio (Vice President of the [...] -
Policy Notes No. 5Resolving the Eurozone Crisis—without Debt Buyouts, National Guarantees, Mutual Insurance, or Fiscal Transfers
One of the reasons for the failure of Europe’s governing bodies to resolve the eurozone crisis is resistance to debt buyouts, national guarantees, mutual insurance, and fiscal transfers between member-states. Stuart Holland argues that none of these are necessary to convert a share of national bonds to Union bonds or for net issues of eurobonds—two […] -
Policy Notes No. 5
Η επίλυση της κρίσης της Ευρωζώνης—δίχως εξαγορές χρέους, εθνικές εγγυήσεις, αλληλοασφάλιση, ή δημοσιονομικές μεταβιβάσεις
Ένας από τους λόγους για την αποτυχία του Ecofin και του Ευρωπαϊκού Συμβουλίου να δώσουν λύση στην κρίση της ευρωζώνης είναι η αντίσταση σε εξαγορές χρέους, κρατικές εγγυήσεις, αλληλοασφάλιση και δημοσιονομικές μεταβιβάσεις μεταξύ κρατών-μελών. Ο Stuart Holland υποστηρίζει ότι κανένα από αυτά τα μέτρα δεν είναι απαραίτητο για να μετατραπεί ένα μέρος των εθνικών ομολόγων […] -
Blog
Two Ways to Fix the Eurozone
Among the (many) obstacles to working out a solution to the crisis in the eurozone is resistance to schemes that involve debt buyouts, national guarantees, mutual insurance, and fiscal transfers. Stuart Holland has a new one-pager and policy note in which he suggests a twin-track strategy for solving the crisis that does not rely on [...] -
One-Pager No. 18Twin Strategies to Resolve the Eurozone Crisis—without Debt Buyouts, Sovereign Guarantees, Insurance Schemes, or Fiscal Transfers
The cancellation of the October 26 meeting of the European Union’s council of finance ministers, or Ecofin, has further eroded confidence in its ability to solve the burgeoning sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone. A viable strategy is needed now—and as Stuart Holland illustrates, two viable strategies are even better than one.