The European Central Bank buildingJOHN MACDOUGALL
Flawed from the beginning
At VoxEU, a post by UNC economist Stanley Black "argues that the problems in the Eurozone's periphery expose a flaw in its design." Prof. "proposes that the ECB set different interest rates for different member countries to help make matters better before they get any worse."
EU needs a New Deal
At New Deal 2.0, Stuart Holland says the euro zone "must use all available methods to implement New Deal-style programs before it's too late."
What's worse, bribery or embezzlement?
From The Wall Street Journal's Real Time Economics: "Morally, there's not much difference between an official who demands bribes and an official who embezzles. But for an economy, bribery can be a far worse offense, argue economists C. Simon Fan, Chen Lin and Daniel Treisman in a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. ....The Chinese government appears to have taken this view to heart, the economists note. It's attempts to rein in embezzlement appear feeble, with officials spending public funds lavishly. But if an official is caught extracting a bribe, the punishment is harsh."
Criticism hinders Fed's easing plan
Also from The Wall Street Journal, Sudeep Reddy says, "Criticism of the Federal Reserve's latest bond-buying program, both from insiders and from U.S. politicians, is muting the plan's potential benefits for the economy. ...Communicating a willingness to do more bond buying if needed despite dissent from inside the Fed and political pressure, primarily from Republican politicians and their advisers, is proving a challenge for Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and a policy-setting committee with a diverse set of views."
The housing market and U.S. tax revenues
Modelled Behaviour looks at a study that shows U.S. tax revenues have not fallen as much as might be expected given the slump in the housing market.
Is student debt the next front in the consumer debt crisis?
From Naked Capitalist: "We have an unspoken social contract: young people who get an education, particularly a "good" education (which means more elite universities, more serious courses of study, graduate degrees) are supposed to be rewarded by higher lifetime earnings. And the prospect of higher lifetime earnings in turn makes it rational to borrow to invest in education. But this whole premise has started to go awry, and the huge uptick in unemployment has started to make matters worse."
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