Jackson Hole « Dr Alf's Blog

Countries using the Euro de jure Countries and territories using the Euro de facto Countries in the EU not using the Euro (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is an outstanding article from Jean Pisani-Ferry, published in Project Syndicate. Check it out!

via Europe According to Draghi by Jean Pisani-Ferry – Project Syndicate.

This is one of the clearest articles that I have seen on the implications of Mario Draghi‘s recent speech at the Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

The bottom line is that it’s in Europe’s best interests for Germany to budge on fiscal policy. Unfortunately, Germany feels that it is not in Germany’s best interests to make substantial fiscal concessions. Whilst, there might be some consensus about medium/long-term, there is a deep divide about short-term fiscal policy.

The conclusion is that it’s probably time to redesign the Euro.

Thoughts?

Countries using the Euro de jure Countries and territories using the Euro de facto Countries in the EU not using the Euro (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is an excellent article from leading Oxford macro-economist, Simon Wren-Lewis.

mainly macro: Draghi at Jackson Hole.

Wren-Lewis takes a very hard look at ECB head, Mario Draghi‘s speech, at the symposium in Jackson Hole, US. The conclusion is that whilst there is some comfort, the words are still ambiguous, so there could still be more pain for Southern Europe.

For me, it is more interesting and positive that the European Commission are going to find EUR 0.5 billion for additional investment in both the public and private sector.

Given Draghi’s ambiguous performance, I fear that speculators will again target the Euro.

For the moment, I see little let up of the excessive austerity heaped on Southern Europe by the troika of the IMF, the ECB and the European Commission. Jobs come from small businesses but they are still being starved of funding in Greece, Portugal, Spain, Cyprus, and Italy – so eye-watering unemployment rates are likely to continue.

Thoughts?

via mainly macro: Draghi at Jackson Hole – Simon Wren-Lewis.