The Euroland crisis and Germany’s euro trilemma

Bibow, Jörg

doi:10.1080/02692171.2012.721757

Cited by 44 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 11 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Still, the current state of the debate on the core economic problems of the Eurozone consists of two broad observations, each based on two elements (see also Bibow, 2013;Johnston and Regan, 2015):…”

Section: Point Of Departure: What Is At Stake In the Eurozone Crisis?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic causes of the Eurozone crisis: the analytical contribution of Comparative Capitalism

Nölke

2015

Socioecon Rev

125

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The article discusses advances and limitations of Comparative Capitalism scholarship on the causes of the Eurozone crisis. It explains the crisis by highlighting four basic mechanisms: first, the absence of a system of coordinated wage bargaining has been made responsible for the loss of cost competitiveness. Second, the specialization in price-sensitive medium-quality goods and the corresponding loss of market shares to emerging markets has been attributed to the weak innovation systems of Southern economies. Third, the loss of competitiveness has been masked temporarily by a strong increase of public indebtedness and, fourth, private household indebtedness. These four explanations do not put the blame for the Eurozone crisis on a single government or a single type of actors, but rather highlight the systemic causes for the crisis, brought about by the construction of a common currency for institutionally very heterogeneous economies.

show abstract

Section: Point Of Departure: What Is At Stake In the Eurozone Crisis?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic causes of the Eurozone crisis: the analytical contribution of Comparative Capitalism

Nölke

2015

Socioecon Rev

125

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Germany has long been recognised as a dominant power within European Monetary Union (EMU) but the crisis has brought Germany 'centre stage' and as a consequence its dominance has been subject to much greater critical scrutiny (e.g. Aglietta 2012; Anderson 2012; Bellofiore et al 2011;Bibow 2013aBibow , 2013bHabermas 2013;Offe 2013;Pitty 2014). Described by one leading scholar as both a 'semi-sovereign' state and at best a 'reluctant hegemon' (Paterson 2010a(Paterson , 2010b, Germany has been able to exercise power in the eurozone (and in the European Union) not through decisive political leadership (Germany, from externally and internally imposed necessities, having being obligated to the 'shield' of the French-German axis) but primarily because of its economic preeminence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a New Political Economy of Development

Strange¹

2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The global political economy is in flux as a series of cumulative crises impacts its organization and governance. The IPE series has tracked its development in both analysis and structure over the last three decades. It has always had a concentration on the global South. Now the South increasingly challenges the North as the centre of development, also reflected in a growing number of submissions and publications on indebted Eurozone economies in Southern Europe.An indispensable resource for scholars and researchers, the series examines a variety of capitalisms and connections by focusing on emerging economies, companies and sectors, debates and policies. It informs diverse policy communities as the established trans-Atlantic North declines and 'the rest', especially the BRICS, rise.

show abstract

“…As Cesaratto and Stirati (2011) explained, this phenomenon is connected, historically, with the decision by the German establishment to adopt an export-led regime for economic growth based on prolonged wage repression in order to reduce unit labour costs in real terms and thereby improve German competitiveness against all other EMU countries (Bibow 2013a;Rossi 2013). Now, persistent inflation differentials in a single-currency area elicit persistent trade deficits in those countries where the inflation rate is higher than the area-wide average rate of inflation, owing to the deterioration in their price competitiveness, which also causes an accumulation of foreign debt for them (Fleming 1971).…”

Section: The Monetary-structural Factors Behind the Euro-area Crisismentioning

confidence: 99%

The economics of deflation in the euro area: a critique of fiscal austerity

Mastromatteo

Rossi

2015

Review of Keynesian Economics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper points out that the roots of the euro-area crisis are to be found in the loss of monetary sovereignty and an unsustainable credit-led economic growth in a variety of 'peripheral' countries. It addresses the negative consequences of fiscal austerity in the euro-area crisis framework, in particular regarding the distribution of income and the economic and financial relations between 'core' and 'peripheral' countries within the euro area. The paper also argues that the deflationary effects of the conventional policy reaction to the euro-area crisis will aggravate recession over the medium-to-long run in that area, owing to their negative impact on demand in the product markets across the whole European Union, whose competitiveness will suffer under the very measures that are supposed to enhance it in the global economy.

show abstract

The Euroland crisis and Germany’s euro trilemma

Cited by 44 publications

References 11 publications

Economic causes of the Eurozone crisis: the analytical contribution of Comparative Capitalism

Economic causes of the Eurozone crisis: the analytical contribution of Comparative Capitalism

Towards a New Political Economy of Development

The economics of deflation in the euro area: a critique of fiscal austerity

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About