Europe,
Asia and US articles from the ending week.
Previously on MoreLiver’s:
EUROPE
The end for Vaclav Klaus, EU gender equality, and is Italy
governable?
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.
Crisis does not prove that a monetary union requires
fiscal/political union – europp
/ LSE
Parliament may yet reject February’s EU budget
deal – europp /
LSE
Crisis is severely
limiting the EU’s foreign policy capacity – europp
/ LSE
Book Review: A Europe Made of Money: The Emergence of the
European Monetary System – europp
/ LSE
The EU was
once a champion of global financial regulatory convergence. What happened? This
column argues that the EU should drop its lacklustre inertia and pursue Basel III because, in the end, it’s in its
interests to comply. EU policymakers ought to aim at enabling the adoption of a
Capital Requirements Regulation that would be fully compliant with Basel III.
In just ten
years, Germany has gone from being the sick man of Europe to being a role model that the
eurozone's distressed economies are instructed to emulate. But there is much in
the German model – particularly its neglect of service-sector reforms – that
economies struggling to boost productivity should ignore.
The threat
of an explosive disintegration of the eurozone – and with it of the EU – is
receding. But the confused outcome of Italy's parliamentary election, with an
upper house dominated by an anti-EU party and a pro-EU majority in the Chamber
of Deputies, has revived the fundamental debate about the purpose of European
integration.
The EU is
mired in a crisis of confidence. Rather than continue to stumble toward more
unity, EU leaders should restore effective sovereignty to national authorities
in eurozone countries, giving Europeans the opportunity to regroup in
preparation for future steps toward a more integrated Europe and a more resilient euro.
ECB
The Limits to ECB
Policy – WSJ
Draghi Won’t Stop the
Euro’s Slide – WSJ
Draghi may have sounded less dovish than many expected
after the central bank's meeting Thursday
Kafka at the ECB – alphaville
/ FT
Credit in the euro
area: Still crunching – The
Economist
ITALY
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:
Beppe Grillo - an
Italian or European phenomenon? – euobserver
Beppe Grillo's extraordinary success in the recent
Italian elections tapped into anti-establishment feeling that is ripe for the
plucking in other member states too
Italian politics: After
the party – The
Economist
OTHER
PIIIGS
Ireland bond deal
with its central bank "sets precedent" says Weidmann – qfinance
At a recent press conference, Mario Draghi batted away
a seemingly endless stream of questions about the ECB’s take on.
Spanish business: Foreign gain, domestic pain – The
Economist
UNITED STATES
Sequestration: A
Fiscal Diet That Won’t Fix the Deficit – The
Fiscal Times
Every budget expert I know thinks the sequester is
just about the stupidest way of cutting spending imaginable, because it cuts
equally from fat, muscle and bone. I certainly agree, but today I want to play
devil’s advocate and present the case for sequestration.
The sequester: On to
the next crisis – The
Economist
Gone Deficit Gone – Krugman /
NYT
So says the CBO, although not directly. Anyone who is
serious (as opposed to Serious) about matters fiscal knows that it’s highly
misleading just to focus on the raw deficit numbers (ONE TRILLION
DOLLARS), for two reasons.
Will the Next Exit
from Monetary Stimulus Really Be Different from the Last? – Macroblog
ASIA
Another step towards an East-West trade war – The
Telegraph
China's trade figures released this
morning are shocking. They tell us that China is still flooding the world with
excess goods, and is once again a net drain on global demand.