Best picks from my posts, since the previous ‘Best of’.
Previously on MoreLiver’s:
EUROPE
European
imbalances – voxeu.org
Hans-Werner Sinn, Akos Valentinyi: Periphery countries
should devalue in order to regain competitiveness and reduce imbalances. As to
whether they should pursue internal or external devaluation, the answer remains
unclear. Overall, given that policymakers have excluded the option of exit,
economic policymaking must focus on the possibilities for internal
devaluations, despite some of the difficulties it may bring.
Book Review: A Europe
Made of Money: The Emergence of the European Monetary System – europp
/ LSE
Is the Netherlands heading for a referendum on Europe? – Open
Europe
A Dutch citizens'
campaign to make it mandatory to hold a referendum on any new transfer of
powers to the EU - reminiscent of the UK's referendum lock - has mustered
40,000 signatures, the threshold needed to force Dutch MP's to debate the issue
and decide whether they agree with the proposal or not.
A “Politically Explosive”
Secret: Italians Are Over Twice As Wealthy As Germans – Testosterone
Pit
Rise of the Eurosceptics in Germany; One in Four Would Vote for Anti-Euro Party – Reuters
One in four
Germans would be ready to vote in September's federal election for a party that
wants to quit the euro, according to an opinion poll published on Monday that
highlights German unease over the costs of the euro zone crisis.
Europe’s Accounting Rules Are Destroying Its Banks – View
/ BB
The
European Commission officials were sufficiently worried by the U.K. investors’
charge -- namely that because of EU accounting rules, banks may have
systematically overstated their assets and distributed nonexistent profits as
dividends and bonuses -- that they said they would open an inquiry. Last week,
the board that administers the rules put forward its own proposals. These are
likely to perpetuate, not fix, the problem.
Some more signs of financial
market fragmentation in the eurozone? – Open
Europe
The
European Repo Council of the International Capital Market Association (ICMA)
released its bi-annual assessment of the European repo markets today.
Chart of the week: Is
external adjustment working in the euro area? – bruegel
If the euro
area does not or cannot move to permanent current account surplus, then Germany should make a net contribution to
demand by increasing imports more than exports. Given the demand deficiency in
the euro area, there is a clear case for strengthening demand in Germany.
EU Fires Back In Austerity
Debate – WSJ
European
commission economists fired back at their critics in nearly 3,000 eye-glazing
words of economics jargon.
ECB
The
Limits to ECB Policy – WSJ
Credit
in the euro area: Still crunching – The
Economist
When Is A Promise Not A Promise? – A
Fistful of Euros
Mario
Draghi is proving to be a man of his word. He said he would do whatever he needed
to do to hold the Euro together, and – so far so good – he has…Last Thursday he
openly and publicly turned a blind eye to a blatant example of monetary
financing
CYPRUS
Cyprus report 'not enough' to convince German opposition – euobserver
The German
Social-Democrats say one report on anti-money-laundering measures in Cyprus will not be enough to convince them
to approve a bailout for the troubled island.
Cyprus: ‘European bailout without the IMF for Cyprus’ – presseurop
Why Cyprus Matters – Macro and Markets – CFR
Russia’s Cyprus problem – beyondbrics
/ FT
Euro bailouts — one out, one
in – MacroScope
/ Reuters
Cyprus and Ireland.
Cyprus's Audit Whitewash – WSJ
You don't
go to the same doctor for a checkup unless you want the same answer.
To bail-in, or not to
bail-in: that is the question (now for Cyprus) – bruegel
There is an
intense debate on the possibility of bailing-in bank shareholders and lenders
of troubled financial institutions (ie forcing investors to take losses), or
relying on taxpayers to take the hit.
OTHER
PIIGS
La
brutta figura – alphaville / FT
Italy has
finally fallen out of the ‘A’ ratings and into the Bs, at Fitch Ratings. Here’s
the explanation for cutting it to BBB+, outlook negative:
Is Spain using accounting
tricks? – Open
Europe
El País
suggests that the Spanish government could have decided to delay various tax
refunds due in December 2012 and pay them in January 2013 instead, in order to
close the year with a lower deficit figure.
UNITED STATES
Yes, We’re Confident, but Who
Knows Why – NYT
Robert J.
Shiller: The recovery in housing, the stock market and the overall economy has
finally gained sustainable momentum — or so it is said.
Can we agree that... – Free
exchange / The Economist
I'll
attempt to distill some fiscal policy truths that should be reasonably
acceptable to most participants.
The Fed’s Exit – The Big Picture
The markets
have begun to wonder whether the Fed (and other central banks) will ever be
able to exit from its Quantitative Easing policy. We believe there is only one
reasonable exit the Fed can take. Rather than sell its portfolio of bonds or
allow them to mature naturally, we believe the Fed’s only practical exit will
be to increase the size of all other balance sheets in relation to its own.
MARKETS
HFT-Limiting Experiment
Underway in Germany – All
About Alpha
The Germans
seem prepared to experiment with limits on high-frequency trading, as we see in
a recent Bundestag vote that leaves the particulars to BaFin. I spoke recently
to David Weild, a former vice chairman of NASDAQ, about this experiment and
about related issues.
Meet the Most Indebted Man in
the World – The
Atlantic
Former
Société Générale rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel owes the bank $6.3 billion. Here's
what his case tells us about financial reform.
30 years of financial
inefficiency – Triple
Crisis
The claim
that the financial sector has been ‘functionally inefficient’ was made 30 years
ago by James Tobin, and it’s great to have a quantitative basis to make this
sort of judgment.
Bridgewater May Be the Hottest Hedge Fund for Harvard Grads, but
It’s Also the Weirdest – The
Daily Beast
Bridgewater
Associates is the $145 billion hedge fund elite college grads are clamoring to
work for. Daniel Gross on the oddball firm’s special sauce.
Monthly Macro: Widening rift
in the eurozone to haunt markets again – Handelsbanken
(pdf)
China: Slowdown coming earlier than
expected * Eurozone: The German locomotive has decoupled * US: Optimism is
back, despite persistent problems * Sweden: Brighter employment outlook, but
sluggish GDP path * Bond markets: Long bond yields to rise at a moderate pace
OFF-TOPIC
How Disney Bought
Lucasfilm—and Its Plans for 'Star Wars' – Businessweek
Up All Night: The science of
sleeplessness – The
New Yorker
How to punish robots when
they inevitably turn against us – Wonkblog
/ WP
His new
book, out next month, is “When Robots Kill: Artificial Intelligence under Criminal
Law.” We spoke Tuesday morning; a
lightly edited transcript follows.
Global Email Patterns Reveal
“Clash of Civilizations” – MIT
Technology Review
The global
pattern of email communication reflects the cultural fault lines thought to
determine future conflict, say computational social scientists
IN FINNISH
EU:n virkamiesten pitäisi kertoa totuus taloudesta
– Vieraskynä
/ HS
Tuoreiden kasvulukujen valossa on selvää, että säästötoimet ovat
heikentäneet euroalueen taloutta. EU-komissaarit myötäilevät kuitenkin isoja
jäsenmaita turvatakseen oman urakehityksensä.
"Euroopan tiukin" tukilinja onkin maailman
löysin – Jan
Hurri / TalSa
Valtiovarainministeri Jutta Urpilaisen mukaan Suomen
tukilinja velkakriisissä on "Euroopan tiukin", ja hänet
"tunnetaan Euroopassa Täti Tiukkana". Tunnetaan tai ei, kriisitoimet
ja kansainväliset luottotilastot kertovat muuta: Suomen tukilinja ei ole
Euroopan tai edes euroalueen tiukin vaan kautta maailman löysin.
Tällainen järjestö tutkii Kyprosta: "Maan
valvonta on Euroopan eliittiä" – TalSa
Moneyvalin puheenjohtajana toimii Vladimir Nechaev, joka
tunnetaan myös entisenä Venäjän varapääministerinä vuosilta 2009-1012.
Löysä Hesari, tiukka Jutta, paha Kypros – Juhani
Huopainen / US Puheenvuoro
Kyproksen
Valiokuntabingo – Juhani
Huopainen / US Puheenvuoro