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Germany Stiffs the ECB

I previously made the case that the Eurozone and Germany need to part ways. Now it appears Germany is effectively doing that by setting up a separate monetary zone inside the Eurozone. Here is Ambrose Evans-Pritchard (my bold):

The authorities in Berlin and Frankfurt are worried that the ECB’s 1pc interest rates are too low for conditions in Germany, where unemployment has fallen to its lowest in 20 years. The ECB’s €1 trillion (£834bn) blitz of three-year loans to banks has started to reignite monetary growth in Germany, even though the key aggregates are still collapsing in southern Europe…

The German authorities are in effect preparing a form of quasi-monetary tightening to offset ECB largesse.

Is this the beginning of the end for the Eurozone?

P.S. Here is the real problem ailing the Eurozone.

P.P.S. Here is my BBC interview on the Eurozone and Germany.

This post originally appeared at Macro and Other Market Musings and is posted with permission.

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Thomas Grennes is a professor of economics at the North Carolina State University and a former visiting faculty member at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga. His research has dealt with various aspects of international economics, including open economy macroeconomics, international finance, and international trade in agricultural products. Recent research topics have included macroeconomic aspects of the Great Moderation, offshore outsourcing, sovereign wealth funds, and the relationship between government debt and economic growth. Earlier work dealt with emerging market issues in the Baltic countries and Russia and trade and macro policies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Economic history topics include the Columbian Exchange of plants and animals, the effects on food markets of introducing mechanical refrigeration, and the integration of Tsarist Russia into the world grain market. When he is not involved in economics, he enjoys mountain hiking.

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