Monday 20 February 2012

More financial crisis readings


11..      Where Does The Greek Bailout Money Go?
19% only to Greeks, rest outside Greece


22.   Foreign county and bank exposure to Greek debt
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13798000. It’ s France and Germany.





33.    Fiscal policy
Paul Krugman again wonders why austerity is so popular, and links to a good post by Chris Dillow on the UK.  http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com/stumbling_and_mumbling/2012/02/fiscal-policy-the-overton-window.html.

4. Debt and deleveraging. 
Excellent report from McKinsey Gobal Institute: 

1. Entering the recession, leverage was highest in the UK, and grew the fastest in Spain. The US was relatively conservative (see Exhibit 1)

2. but the devil is in the detail:
a. households especially in mortgages raised leverage
b. firms were mostly low leverage,with exception of real estate and leveraged buyouts

5.  The Economist on fiscal policy: should the EZone be like the US?
In the US, after independence, Hamilton absorbed debts.  The US has no centrally imposed state balanced budget requirements, but it does have
a. a credible no  bail out rule from DC to the states
b. in effect, Keynesian fiscal policy via counter-cyclical federal spending

The EZ has none of these, nor collective debt nor sufficient integration to deal with shocks.