Bits of my interview on Renzi etc here with the New York Times
debt
Privatizations and Debt : Lessons From The Greek Fiasco
In the midst of the European Debt Crisis, it is tempting to think that high-debt countries could alleviate the recessionary impact of the budget consolidation process by selling (poorly managed) assets and stakes in their state owned enterprises (SOEs), and by using the proceeds to buy back their debts. In addition to providing a cushion […]
Intervista su Letta al Wirtshafts Woche
Mia intervista a Wirtshafts Woche sulle prospettive del Governo e dell’Italia (in tedesco) qui sotto la traduzione di Google Translate ________________________ Decisione nel mese di agosto a temere i pazienti italianiJulius Müller-MeiningenL’Italia è nella peggiore recessione dalla Seconda guerra mondiale. Non sembra come se il paese perché crea fuori per il prossimo futuro. E se […]
Politicians, Deficits and Debt
Two nice graphs. One from Angry Bear showing the US deficit/GDP ratio associated with US Presidents since Nixon. The other from Bloomberg last year, before Monti, depicting the Italian public debt in per capita terms, at constant 2011 prices. Comments redundant
A Pessimistic Note on the Euro
On February 7, I gave a talk a the Conference “America: Still A European Power?” in Bologna jontly organized by Johns Hopkins University-SAIS and Bologna University. (a more elaborate version of this post was later posted on voxeu e linkiesta ) The title of my presentation was “Why and How the US and the EU […]
A Debt Buy-Back Is Bad for Greece
According to FT Deutschland (quoted by Eurointelligence) on Saturday EU ministers agreed on a mix of measures, including buyback of Greek debt with EFSF money, tapping ECB and national central banks profits on Greek bond purchases and lowering interest rates on bilateral loans to Athens. These buybacks are beneficial to creditors (now mainly EU and […]
Mario Monti’s Last Bet
(from Economonitor, December 5, 2011) Mario Monti’s government today approved an ambitious plan that may be the last bullet to save Italy from default and preserve the EZ as we know it. The challenge is to combine a large fiscal consolidation plan, roughly 2% of GDP, with the need to foster growth, while sharing the […]
BCE: una lastra sottile di ghiaccio
È piuttosto evidente (si veda questo articolo di Reuters) che L’Italia è ormai oggetto di una condizionalità informale da parte della BCE e il FMI. Non stiamo (ancora) prendendo a prestito dal Fondo o dal EFSF, e perciò, a differenza di Grecia, non siamo soggetti al rispetto di target formali per ottenere il versamento delle quote di prestito. […]
Idiotcracy
Yesterday’ saw a fierce debate inside the government, concerning the opportunity to include the new measures asked by the ECB and the EU in a new decree or rather in a new amendment to the financial law (the difference being the only in the latter case the Parliament may be able to change them). The government […]
Campioni di Debito
Una figura interessante e informativa da Barry Ritholdz
Berlusconi nel “Chart of the Day”
(con mia intervista) Italian Debt Surged the Most Under Berlusconi: Chart of the Day Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) — Italy’s public debt surged more than twice as much under Silvio Berlusconi than under his rival premiers since the media tycoon entered politics 17 years ago. The CHART OF THE DAY shows that Berlusconi, who has served […]