Author Archives: admin

We believe … that the present direction of economic policy may soon prove to be unsustainable. If the conditions do not exist for the realisation of a development plan based on the objectives outlined, there will be an extemely high risk of debt-driven deflation and the consequent disintegration of the euro zone. This is because some countries […]

Abridged by Brad de Long. (Politicians) talk about the need to restore “confidence in the markets”. The argument here is that deficits do positive harm by destroying business confidence… fear of higher taxes, fear of default, fear of inflation…. The parallel with what happened in 1931 is irresistible. In February of that year, Philip Snowden, […]

17 Jun, 12.30 Argentina v South Korea World Cup Group B 17 Jun, 15.00 Greece v Nigeria World Cup Group B 17 Jun, 19.30 France v Mexico World Cup Group A

Moody’s today cut Greece sovereign debt to ‘junk’ status, citing threats to growth. “If they still need to take additional measures to reduce the debt because of slow growth, that would be a difficult political decision … because obviously that entails still more sacrifice on the part of the population,” Moody’s told Reuters. And that’s the […]

Slovenia’s Milivoje Novakovic evades a tackle by Algeria’s Hassan Yebda. Photo: Reuters/Christian Charisius. Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini fights for the ball with Paraguay’s Lucas Barrios. REUTERS/Carlos Barria 

In September 1931 Great Britain ceased paying gold for UK currency and there ended the interwar international gold standard, as most of the world followed Britain off gold. The doctoral thesis I’m writing takes up the story from there. What kind of beast was the international monetary system for the remainder of the 1930s? The […]

Published in CNN-Expansión (Mexico) English translation: Greece and the Great Depression Scott UrbanGuest contributor to Centro de Estudios Espinosa Yglesias In the Great Depression, the prevailing wisdom argued that currency was only trustworthy if pegged to another currency — preferably, one which is pegged to gold. The idea was to limit the potential for fiscal malfeasance. […]

Times of crisis give rise to reconsideration of the monetary order. It has always been that way. With no small help from the likes of Peter Schiff, Rand Paul and other advocates of the Austrian school, the gold standard is enjoying a renaissance. At least around the water cooler. It’s time to pour some of that […]

About two years ago I had lunch with one of the most eminent economic historians alive today. We were reflecting on how aggressive were the actions of governments to combat the global downturn. “Does the expansion of government spending put central banks at risk of being forced to pick up the tab?” we wondered. In […]

In the first year of any macro course a key emphasis is the fact that real variables matter. Nominal variables are what you see quoted — and usually reported. So, for example, when you read that the euro has fallen to 1.20 dollars, that’s the nominal exchange rate. The real exchange rate is this nominal rate […]