Suitcase mood is a Russian website with travel and tourism content. The term is also a popular expression widely used within Russian culture to describe the state of mind which grips a voyager on the brink of a journey. The mood is often associated with a ritual which involves the departing person sitting, sometimes accompanied by family … Read more
Latin America continues to be one of the fastest growing regions in the world, even though growth slowed down a bit in 2012. Many economies in the region are operating at or near potential, inflation remains generally low, and unemployment is at historically low levels. In the near term, the region will continue to benefit … Read more
In every economic crisis there comes a moment of clarity. In Europe soon, millions of people will wake up to realize that the euro-as-we-know-it is gone. Economic chaos awaits them. To understand why, first strip away your illusions. Europe’s crisis to date is a series of supposedly “decisive” turning points that each turned out to … Read more
As you know, Paul Krugman has been inching inexorably toward MMT. The last stumbling block has been those Vigilantes. Krugman and Brad DeLong have argued that we don’t need to worry about them, now, in the depths of a liquidity trap. And now that we know that the magic 90% debt ratio of Rogoff and … Read more
“Dramatic scenes in the streets of Athens; strikes are paralyzing all of Greece.” “Greek prime minister considers leaving the euro.” “German parliament will decide tomorrow whether to reject the refinancing of the public Greek debt due next month.” “Greek bank deposits are disappearing rapidly.” Introduction Numerous voices describe such headlines as a plausible future scenario. … Read more
Guest post by: Joseph E. Stiglitz Columbia University, New York, and co-host of the Conference on Rethinking Macro Policy II: First Steps and Early Lessons In analyzing the most recent financial crisis, we can benefit somewhat from the misfortune of recent decades. The approximately 100 crises that have occurred during the last 30 years—as liberalization policies became dominant—have … Read more
And the world said “Let Shinzo Abe be”, and all was light. A new craze is sweeping the planet. Known by the title “Abenomics” over the last couple of years it has been steadily gathering adepts in financial markets across the globe. Despite the fact Abe’s move fits comfortably within the austerity vs growth policy … Read more
In recent days both Brad DeLong and Paul Krugman have written good pieces arguing against the austerity marketed by deficit hyperventilators. We can thank Thomas Herndon’s muck-raking that pushed the topic front and center, showing that there is no empirical evidence in support of the austerian’s claim that big government debts slow growth. (See my … Read more
Two UMKC students have provided what I think is the most destructive empirical work to date on the simply awful book and articles by Reinhart and Rogoff that purported to find a magical debt ratio beyond which economic growth plummets to negative territory. They are Matthew Berg and Brian Hartley and their piece is at … Read more
The European Union added 10 new members in 2004 and two more in 2007. Recent population censuses have provided much more reliable data on the number of residents in the twelve new member states in 2011 than the regular estimates by the statistical offices. Together with data from previous censuses they allow evaluating the population … Read more