Joseph Stiglitz, "The Euro"

www.politics-prose.com/book/97...
In his latest book, Stiglitz, the 2001 Nobel Prize-winning economist, asks whether the Eurozone is united or divided by its common currency. Criticizing the European Central Bank for policies, such as austerity, that cause rather than alleviate stagnation, the former World Bank senior vice president and chief economist outlines three possible futures, showing what it would mean for Europe to make structural reforms, adapt a radical new flexibility, or dissolve.
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Produced by Michael A. Kowaleski

[@JunaidSalehHayat]

Great! Thanks for sharing!

[@mmmhorsesteaks]

@mic guy: you da real mvp!

[@SomeOne1121]

OMG I fucking love mic guy.

[@UrgeidoitNet]

great work!

[@terrycote8879]

If the purpose of the Euro and the European Union was to end the " beggar thy neighbor" policies of certain countries that led to WWII, it is a huge failure.

[@harryf1ashman]

Its actually achieved the exact opposite. Its only succeeded in opening up old wounds

[@mugokiberenge8818]

Great insights

[@gallectee6032]

A very important presentation for all Europeans. We need to put pressure on German and French politicians so that they stop forcing out countries to wallow in permanent depression. This is insanity.

[@sebanj222]

And not true at all. A lot of countries need to increase productivity. Making more debts will not solve the problem

[@gallectee6032]

@@sebanj222 Productivity has skyrocketed, but compensation has not. This has been happening consistently for the last 50 years. So what the hell are you even talking about?

[@sebanj222]

Seems you are not the brightest. Stiglitz himself and every other economist said the same. The southern countries are too expensive (or not productive enough) compared to northern countries. Or if you want to blame the northern countries: they are too cheap (or too productive) compared to southern countries. Making more debts will not change this problem. And with all these EZB-programs we are far, far, far away from austerity.

[@gallectee6032]

@@sebanj222 And yet the increases in living standards were sustainable before the crash and the nonsensical response of extreme austerity (which increases debt...). You are clueless yourself there mate. Arguing for your own enslavement. Good luck with that.

[@sebanj222]

You can always rise your living standard with debt and thats what Greece did. The eastern european countries argued that their living standard is lower than in Greece and Greece did receive a lot of money. A german economist said that not the EU forced Greece into Austerity but the markets did by not lending Greece money anymore. He also said that it was not a good decision to keep Greece in the eurozone. But what can you complain about? There is no austerity anymore, the EZB is buying tons of government bonds - so everything should be fine.

[@Yllawish]

very good

[@margaretdent1312]

V Poor Sound quality ruins this talk!

[@malliksharma]

Yes, poor sound quality and anyway English sub-titles are a MUST.

[@riccardorigliano7110]

Was looking for Hugo Stiglitz but ok

[@veramann]

The sound is low because of the microphone.

[@bryanjensen355]

The sound is low because, for all his smarts, Stiglitz can't or won't use a microphone.

[@stringupthemaoist3148]

Is this guy related to Hugo?

[@elysium619]

Didn't anyone there realize that you are suppose to speak INTO the mic?!! The mic is at the side of his face for the first half.

[@mlccrl]

As far as Italy is concerned we have always been in deficit and we have always falsified our national budget as Greece but the secret weapon we have always had is black economy. The real reason why we didn't go in default, as Greece did, is the huge amount of money which circulates underground. Everybody evades taxes in Italy and this creates a hidden richness which allows people to save their standard of living. The government tries to fight against evasion but so far the war was lost. The day everybody will pay taxes as he should will be the end of the party. This is the italian paradox but it works. Even Mussolni did not manage to oblige businessmen to pay taxes completely.

[@stringupthemaoist3148]

Hahahah you can't hustle the original Mob! Who'da know not paying legal theft was beneficial...

[@Xamufam]

italys government needs transparency, cut red tape, labor reforms and lower taxes if it wants to survive

[@tatakae2227]

Bro what are you talking about, Greece has even more black market than Italy 😂

[@juliacor5261]

Really interesting, but this notion that Germany was behind the policy of austerity on Greece is false: it was the whole of Eastern and Northern EU. The basic problem for the North was that Greece had lied and for the East that it was complaining about austerity when the Eastern Europeans had paid a very harsh economic price in order to qualify to join the EU. It was a question of fairness, which is the essential political capital inside the Union. However, what he said about fiscal flexibility is very interesting and ring a bell. Although I have to say, the comments about milk expiration dates is just idiotic. He's probably confusing directive implementation problems with the bail out package, which was about such fundamental things as corruption and distortion of competition, pension policies guaranteeing 100% pensions and the lack of land registry in Greece.

[@jj266]

Julia Cor what Germany and the other Northern Europeans is doing at the moment is callous and only going to end horribly

[@mikebrandenburg9922]

In how far are you lying when everybody knows your real situation??

[@mikebrandenburg9922]

This is the EU, subsidies Spanish fisherman to grow their market, pay English fisherman to sell their boats, Spain must now fish in the waters of the UK, and the peole of the UK must by their fish abroad. Farmers in the Netherlanda are fined for effective farming, farmers in France receive subsidies because they can not compete. Etc etc etc, a socialistic nigjtmare

[@Llkc60]

it's not idiotic. your ignorance is. the EU is built out in a way that lesser countries provide markets for western end products while servicing cheap labor and cheap low added value resources for western industries. they do this mostly through regulation, one very straightforward and easy to understand example he brought was about the milk. apparently still not easy enough to understand for some.

[@amanwearingsuspenders7390]

Outstanding anylysis. I believe in the future of the euro, however, it does need to change and more integration is needed invregards to fiscal policy.

[@io2859]

volume at 100 trying to hear this thing

[@azizahamalia1520]

Criticizing the European Central Bank for Policies👍🏻

[@Silly.Old.Sisyphus]

whose great idea was it to put a directional microphone on the side? the cameraman's of course.

[@runthomas]

it would help if someone taught him to use a mic.

[@canemcave]

could this guy talk in the mic properly so that people hear what he has to say?

[@RadicalShiba1917]

So, I'm pretty new to economics, so maybe I'm missing something obvious, but how is Stiglitz a left-wing neoclassical?

[@ChrisSmith-bh2hg]

Neoclassical Economics the mainstream school. It is divided into 2 branches. Neoliberal and new Keynesianism. Neoliberals are best represented by Reagan and Thatcher. Markets are perfect and government needs to get out of the way. The government should privatize everything they can. The talk a lot about always running a government surplus. New Keynesians believe in a mixed economy, and sometimes running a deficit. Best represnted by the views of Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz. Because they are not free market fundamentalists, they are called left, even though they are centrist. I prefer the non-mainstream Post Keynesian school. Search "Steve Keen" if you are interested. I know this is pretty oversimplified, but I hope it give you something to start with.

[@user-ru9qk9it3v]

@@ChrisSmith-bh2hg Thank you for your description of branches in the Neoclassical economy.

[@freedomordeath89]

@@ChrisSmith-bh2hg you have a really childish and simplistic view of economics. Only reddit-"economists" divide it like that

[@Confucius_76]

So.... why should Britain stay in the EU?

[@gkatiniaris9486]

Speak into the microphone!!!

[@pcuimac]

United Stakes? lol

[@sebanj222]

You can rate an economist by watching old videos and everything Stiglitz said like austerity was the problem is now gone. We have inflation rated over 10% and the EZB flooded the market with money especially to buy italian government bonds. Other economist claim that the problem is that those austerity rules have been broken and because of the low interest rates the southern countries increased their deficits. More and more instruments are needed not to increase the interest rates of Italy anymore, the risks are getting higher an higher. The productivity of the southern countries is too low, they have far too many laws and regulations which are bad for their economy and the opportunity to downgrade their currency is gone.

[@aryataba]

I know this is totally irrational but I keep getting angry at Stiglitz over the sound issue.

[@juliacor5261]

And by the way what comes to the EU Commission President Juncker's comments about the bad deal for the UK is again supported by the vast majority of European electorate -- and again it is about fairness not about force: If EU members obey the rules and pay the EU for the single market, then the UK must too. There has to be trust inside the EU and no free riders. And this directly follows from the single market, because as it is with the milk expiration problem (i.e. Greece avoiding its responsibility to allow fair competition and follow the common rules) the notion of a single market requires trust in each other's governments and courts.

[@Callinike]

What is austerity?

[@pcuimac]

Cutting back on public spending to bring down the deficit or at least stop the growth rate of the deficit. Austerity in times of contraction and low inflation leads obviously to disinflation, unemployment and even a loss in GDP esp. because public spending has a big multiplier. Read Paul Krugman, Steglitz, Blyth and Keynesians in general.

[@paulschmitz1275]

pcuimac *Deflation. You might want to note that Keynesianism isn't the only school around, even if you prefer it. The neoclassic synthesis with monetarism is probably the best fit for Krugman and Stieglitz, not pure Keynesian economics.

[@distopiadnb]

Paul Schmitz: no, pcuimac is right. Disinflation - i.e. price growth decreasing - is the relevant concept when speaking about the recent period. Deflation - i.e. the price level itself decreasing - was typical in other historical episodes of economic depression, like the decade after the 1929 crisis. Hans Meier: don't get trapped into "schools of thought" reasonings. They exist, but this has no consequence upon the right way to assess any economic argument - that is, with recourse to facts and logic. Moreover, some things are established beyond reasonable doubt, and the existence of keynesian mechanisms is one of them - independently of any broader theory about the economy. Finally, austerity is not necessarily imposed by expenditure cuts. It can also be pursued by increasing taxes - or a combination of the two.

[@paulschmitz1275]

+distopiadnb Never heard of the term disinflation, have always thought of it just in the terms of the derivative of inflation/deflation. I apologize for the premature "Correction".

[@distopiadnb]

Easy. It's actually a new policy jargon I guess, and likely because the phenomenon is also new, at least as seen on such a large scale. The Great Depression had strong, outright deflation in the US and elsewhere. But, as you may know, research over the microfoundations of business cycles, especially in the 70s and 80s, gave prominence to assumptions of sticky wages and prices. Keynes himself hinted at sticky prices, but probably regarded it as marginal, or secondary channel. In the new-keynesian models, instead, price stickiness is crucial to obtain recessions. Now, the fact is that this time things are, overall, more neo-Keynesian rather than old-fashioned Keynesian. If you collect wage data for countries like Portugal, Spain or Italy for the last 10 years, you'll se that data points on real wage growth end up concentrating overwhelmingly around zero. The distribution is clearly censored. One might be tempted to thik that it is due to institutional rigidities, although actually these countries liberalized their labor market strongly in the recent past. But the UK is pretty much the same.

[@teddyj.3198]

33:45

[@Xamufam]

europe did have a system to align the currencies it did have problems

[@tiziocaio6236]

Staggering, Nobel prize, 11 books, chief economist and yet got everything about the euro completely wrong

[@oddvardmyrnes9040]

This man is saying that Greece was connected to the Euro because they had a strong emotional incentive to join the Euro. That is BS. They joined because it gave them credit. They benefitted from the massive credit improvment it gave them. They borrowed money at the same interest rate as Germany. The Euro is backed by Germany, France, Holland and all the member states so Greece went on a spending spree like a teenager with dads credit card. This man is talking BS.

[@gardenwarrior77]

Damn. I didn't know Fox News broadcast in the EU. Your "logic" is the same as the idiots claiming it was African Americans responsible for The Subprime Mortgage Crisis.

[@christopherbremer2192]

Try listening to Yanis Varoufakis on the subject. He was Greece's finance minister

[@oddvardmyrnes9040]

@@christopherbremer2192 ..If he was the finance minister of Greece he should be aware. Greece has the 4th biggest armey in NATO. A bunch of ships, helicopters and a lot of bang. They have excemted the church for tax. And guess what? The church is the biggest real estate owner in Greece. The tourist industry is all cash. Black money flurish. What Mr Varoufakis is saying is BS and that is why nobody gives him an ear. Now. The creditors should have taken more of the hit, agree on that. The banks was let off to easy. Especialy the French.

[@haldir3120]

@@oddvardmyrnes9040 On top of that Greece faked its figures before joining the EU with the help of Goldman Sachs. Stiglitz is not accurate on this but this is a rather minor point and is not devalidating the rest

[@oddvardmyrnes9040]

@@haldir3120 .. It is not for me to say if he is right or not, but the Greek people have income, so they manage. The problem they face is related to a cash economy, with weak tax laws and institutions. They are getting better, I hope.

[@nicodelfine5194]

The failure of Euro!

[@freedomordeath89]

Sure...20 years later...

[@CandyGun96]

How the hell are people dressed!?!?!?

[@unclesargam490]

Let's not judge old folk; they've earned the right to not give a hoot about their choice of clothes. P.S. Nice pic by the way.

[@anesbessai4723]

IKa Ci this is not fashion show..

[@atheoma]

why the hell do you care?!?!

[@CandyGun96]

Because they made me laugh as hell!

[@badfozziebear446]

that's how folk look that have more interests than just fashion

[@handlessmcpooper7032]

when i heard republican i said i could bear it, it s only 1h, but on god i am at min 20 and i wanna scrape my eyes out with a toothpick

[@handlessmcpooper7032]

and the racism about germany...i swear...

[@runthomas]

if the dollar can work then the euro can work...europe needs to stop thinking of itself as 27 different countries and become one country like america..where everyone carries the can. this will happen soon...and the euro will succeed .. there are better brains than this man behind the euro .they have seen all he has seen and more... and they know the solutions.

[@hardwoodthought1213]

There’s not a chance in hell that would ever happen tho. America has been around for less than 250 years as we know it today, it was designed with an understanding that whilst there will be regional differences in culture, taxes, education and so on, they are still one nation working for one another. Europe will never see themselves in that, someone working in Germany has such little in common with someone in Greece to unify them and sell them on the idea that your work will be benefitting the others.

[@runthomas]

i think this guy is anti german...its hard to get the real truth when he is really only trying to bash the germans...they are a great nation

[@josecanisales3491]

The black guy in shorts is the only one NOT fully engaged. How Rude.