Revolting Europe
economics
How the public sector is the answer to Italy’s economic crisis and army of graduate unemployed
What would happen to Italy if you decided to recruit eight hundred thousand to one million young and qualified people into public service, asks Maria Luisa Bianco An economy cannot function well without a State that functions well. Since the recovery of the country requires a boost in the efficiency of the public administration, the failure of … Continue reading
The German Chancellor and Grexit
By Jacques Sapir A Greek exit from the Euro, following the election on 25 January, is no longer unthinkable, Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted in the German weekly “Der Spiegel” on Saturday. This is an important statement, which can be analyzed in two different ways, neither of which are opposed to the other. The first reading … Continue reading
Yanis Varoufakis on the coming Greek elections and myths surrounding the country’s economic ‘recovery’
With a snap general election due January 25, a Greek economist close to SYRIZA dismantles some myths surrounding the Greek economy and believes victory for the left-wing opposition is increasingly likely After the announcement that on 25 January, Greece will return to the polls (due to the failed the third and decisive vote for the … Continue reading
Swedish lessons? Interpreting the recent elections
It is difficult to conceive that those responsible for the crisis, implementing measures that created the crisis, are the answer to it. Yet they’ll have us believe these are the lessons from the Swedish elections. Is this so, asks Francisco Louçã A little over a week ago, the Swedish elections produced a slim majority for a … Continue reading
Fiscal stimulus or monetary laxity: Germany must choose
By Duval Guillaume In Europe, ever more monetary laxity is necessary because Germany refuses fiscal stimulus, even though the latter approach is preferable. On 4 September the European Central Bank (ECB) not only lowered again the interest rate at which it lends to banks to 0.05%, but it has also launched a major programme of … Continue reading
How much does capital cost? A new index is in making
We’ve heard a lot of about the cost of labour, which is blamed for the crisis. But how much does capital cost? The CGT trade union has launched a project to find out – and aims to use it as a tool in the struggle for a better world at the service of human beings, not profits. … Continue reading
French PM Valls ploughs on with stability plan but at what price?
By Guillaume Duval Despite the political thunder of the European elections of 25 May, France’s President and Prime Minister chose the moment to stay the course of their “stability program” presented a month earlier to the National Assembly and approved by it after a fraught debate. This document, submitted to the European authorities, describes the … Continue reading
How austerity has widened Italy’s North-South divide
Austerity policies have accentuated a North-South divide grounded in a distribution of public spending and the tax burden that is skewed against the Mezzzogiorno, argues economist Guglielmo Forges Davanzati “It is well known what kind of ideology has been disseminated in myriad ways among the masses in the North, by the propagandists of the bourgeoisie: the South … Continue reading
The ECB and Europe’s deflationary spiral
IN THE RADICAL PRESS / IL MANIFESTO by Thomas Fazi* The latest figures from the European Central Bank are clear, and rubbish the rhetoric of “recovery” : the Eurozone is now on the brink of deflation. As one can easily deduce, if inflation indicates an increase in the prices of goods and services, deflation indicates … Continue reading
Valls as France’s new PM is poor casting – but that’s not the worst of it
By Jacques Sapir After what can only be called one of the worst defeats suffered by a “Left government” in local elections, a defeat that saw cities won by the Socialists over 100 years ago pass into the hands of the Right (Limoges), French President François Hollande has decided to thank the Prime Minister, Jean- … Continue reading
A Gathering Storm: Eurozone in 2014
Is Europe’s single currency bloc stabilising? Behind the current picture of calm storm clouds are gathering, says French economist Jacques Sapir, in this recent interview with Greek newspaper Kefalaio (Capital) Kefalaio: What is your reaction to the image of stability in the Eurozone promoted by European leaders? What are the possible ruptures (eg in the case … Continue reading
Manufacturing consent: Economic thought control in France
From time to time, the question is understandably posed, why if austerity and neo-liberal policies are so patently failing in Europe, has there not been more of a challenge to them. Well one simple answer lies with economists, the experts who ought to know if the policies of cuts, deregulation, privatisation and so on, are … Continue reading
The recovery will come, but it will not redress the social imbalance
By Fondazione Condividere For a few weeks now I have seen many senior figures in Italy’s Letta government, but also European institutions, waving their arms to indicate the arrival of an imminent recovery in the horizon, with the same anxiety of Tom Hanks in “Cast Away” when waiting for the ship that will save him … Continue reading
Questioning the future of the euro is no longer un-PC
IN THE RADICAL PRESS / MEMOIRE DES LUTTES By Frédéric Lebaron A debate is raging among economists and French leftist intellectuals on the future of the eurozone and the relevance of a national strategy to exit from the single currency. The conversion of leading French economists to this strategy (of which Frédéric Lordon is the … Continue reading
The German elections will not change a thing in the Eurozone
Interview with Italian economist Emiliano Brancaccio ‘As far as austerity is concerned, even after the September elections Germany will not turn the page. The Germans have benefited from the crisis, and even if the Bundesbank itself has reservations about the general direction of European economic policy, Berlin has no interest in changing course.’ So says … Continue reading
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