Eurozone

Pearls relating to the current economic situation in the Eurozone. fionnbharr Dec 17

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http://www.problogger.net/archives/2012/03/25/tips-from-the-trenches-best-blogger-productivity-tools/

Tips from the Trenches: Best Blogger Productivity Tools : @ProBlogger

When we put together Blog Wise, I thought I would be the only blogger who didn’t use many (okay—any!) of the productivity apps I downloaded. As it turned out, very few of the pro bloggers we spoke to relied on any apps or tools other than Gmail, Google Calendar, and Evernote. So I decided to ask some of my connections on social media what kinds of tools they use, and I got a great response. Here I’ve compiled the list so that, if you’re interested, you can try some of these tools for yourself.

Can the euro omelette be unscrambled without provoking the mother of all financial collapses? With the crisis heating up again as Spanish 10-year bond yields hit 6 percent last week, the question has renewed urgency. The conventional wisdom is that such unscrambling is impossible. The economic, political and legal complications of bringing back national currencies are so immense that the euro zone’s 17 nations are effectively locked in a prison with no exit.

http://blogs.reuters.com/hugo-dixon/2012/04/16/can-the-euro-omelette-be-unscrambled/

Can the euro omelette be unscrambled? | Hugo Dixon

From the start, the euro has rested on a gamble. When European leaders opted for monetary union in 1992, they wagered that European economies would converge toward one another: the deficit-prone countries of southern Europe would adopt German economic standards -- lower price inflation and wage growth, more saving, and less spending -- and Germany would become a little more like them, by accepting more government and private spending and higher wage and price inflation. This did not occur. Now, with the euro in crisis, the true implications of this gamble are becoming clear.

Europe After the Crisis

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/04/there_is_no_invisible_hand.html#.T4V1lAHmBcE.facebook

One of the best-kept secrets in economics is that there is no case for the invisible hand. After more than a century trying to prove the opposite, economic theorists investigating the matter finally concluded in the 1970s that there is no reason to believe markets are led, as if by an invisible hand, to an optimal equilibrium — or any equilibrium at all. But the message never got through to their supposedly practical colleagues who so eagerly push advice about almost anything.

There Is No Invisible Hand - Jonathan Schlefer - Harvard Business Review

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/05/us-china-europe-wen-idUSTRE81405920120205

BEIJING | Sun Feb 5, 2012 4:55am EST BEIJING (Reuters) - China has a stake in helping euro zone countries get through their debt crisis, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in comments published on Sunday, pointing to Europe's importance as a market and hinting at more possible support for beleaguered exporters. Wen's remarks, reported by the official Xinhua news agency, built on comments he made during German Chancellor Angela Merkel's recent visit to China, when he said Beijing was considering increasing its participation in rescue funds to address the European debt crisis. This time, Wen urged skeptical Chinese citizens to understand that supporting Europe was in their own benefit "Now Europe is facing a debt crisis and we must consider relations with Europe strategically to protect our national interests," Wen said while visiting the export-dependent southern Chinese province of Guangdong on Saturday, said Xinhua.

Wen says China has stake in helping Europe | Reuters

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/14/paul-volcker-stands-tall-against-the-banking-lobby/

Paul Volcker stands tall against the banking lobby | Ben Chu | Independent Eagle Eye - Breaking views from Independent commentators - Blogs

Volcker with a student from Georgetown college, Kentucky The banking lobby has been working overtime to kill the “Volcker Act”, which is designed to prevent large American banks from trading securities on their own account (in other words speculating). It’s hardly surprising that big US banks – which are essentially run by speculators – don’t like the new restrictions. But the lobby has won some support from the official sector in other countries. Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of Canada, is the head of the global Financial Stability Board , a sort of international super regulator.

Exit from comment view mode. Click to hide this space WASHINGTON, DC – It is now clear that the eurozone crisis will continue well into 2012, despite early February’s recovery in stock markets. Negotiations between Greece and the banks over Greek sovereign debt may yet be concluded, but sufficiently wide participation by banks in the deal remains very much in doubt. Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund has raised the issue of official-sector debt reduction, possibly even by the European Central Bank, sending the message that a “haircut” for private bondholders will not be enough to return Greece to financial sustainability.

The Global Future of Europe’s Crisis - Kemal Derviş - Project Syndicate

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/the-global-future-of-europe-s-crisis

"How to Compete in Europe" by Philippe Maystadt | Project Syndicate

Exit from comment view mode. Click to hide this space Comments View/Create comment on this paragraph LONDON – Interest in the European Union’s competitiveness did not begin with the euro crisis.

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/how-to-compete-in-europe

The recent news from Europe could hardly be more unsettling for those who desperately wanted to believe that the eurozone was finally finding its way out of the region's imbroglio. The collapse of the Dutch coalition government over budget cuts dramatically called into question the commitment of the staunchest supporter of the German hard line on the need for fiscal austerity. On the same day, the National Front, whose platform calls for an exit from the euro, gained a record 18 percent of the vote in the first round of the French presidential elections. And the results confirmed François Hollande, who wants to renegotiate the European Union's recent German-inspired fiscal pact to create room for growth policies, as a firm favorite to wrest the presidency from Nicolas Sarkozy.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/04/25/the_competitiveness_crisis

The Competitiveness Crisis - By Uri Dadush | Foreign Policy

Europe’s Vicious Spirals - Barry Eichengreen - Project Syndicate

Exit from comment view mode. Click to hide this space Comments View/Create comment on this paragraph BERKELEY – The euro crisis shows no signs of letting up. While 2011 was supposed to be the year when European leaders finally got a grip on events, the eurozone’s problems went from bad to worse. What had been a Greek crisis became a southern European crisis and then a pan-European crisis.

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/europe-s-vicious-spirals

Exit from comment view mode. Click to hide this space Comments View/Create comment on this paragraph MADRID – While the world anxiously awaits the climax of the eurozone drama, its leaders’ behavior resembles the political equivalent of what physicists call “Brownian motion,” with officials bouncing randomly from one crucial bilateral consultation and vital European summit to the next. The impact of make-or-break declarations that are supposed to solve the monetary union’s problems dissipates almost as soon as they are issued. Comments View/Create comment on this paragraph Meanwhile, a plethora of diagnoses and prescriptions are competing for attention – and in their gloominess.

The Perils of Europe’s Navel Gazing - Ana Palacio - Project Syndicate

S&P | Credit FAQ: Factors Behind Our Rating Actions On Eurozone Sovereign Governments | Americas

Exit from comment view mode. Click to hide this space BERKELEY – Last December, with Europe’s financial system on the brink of disaster, the European Central Bank stunned the markets with an unprecedented intervention, offering banks across the eurozone essentially unlimited liquidity against any and all collateral for an exceptional period of three years. The ECB’s surprise liquidity operation put the continent’s crisis on hold.

"The ECB’s Lethal Inhibition" by Barry Eichengreen | Project Syndicate

BBC News - Europe: A crisis of the centre

Francois Hollande has declared that the world of finance is his enemy Last December Europe decided to outlaw expansionary fiscal policy. Twenty-five countries pledged to get their debts below 60% of GDP, and their "structural deficits" down to 0.5% - and keep them there - by 2014.

The Euro

"A Devaluation Option for Southern Europe" by Gita Gopinath | Project Syndicate

Exit from comment view mode. Click to hide this space Comments View/Create comment on this paragraph CAMBRIDGE – This year is likely to mark a make-or-break ordeal for the euro. The eurozone’s survival demands a credible solution to its long-running sovereign-debt crisis, which in turn requires addressing the two macroeconomic imbalances – external and fiscal – which are at the heart of that crisis. Comments View/Create comment on this paragraph The crisis has exposed the deep disparities in competitiveness that have developed within the eurozone. From 1996 to 2010, unit labor costs in Germany increased by just 8%, and by 13% in France.

"Can Europe Be Saved?" by Alfred Gusenbauer | Project Syndicate

Exit from comment view mode. Click to hide this space Comments View/Create comment on this paragraph VIENNA – In 2011, Europe’s financial and banking crisis escalated into a sovereign-debt crisis. A problem that began in Greece ended up raising doubts about the very viability of the euro – and even of the European Union itself.