"The ECB says these unorthodox measures are needed to combat looming deflation. Given that prices are still rising (albeit slowly – core inflation stands at 0.9 per cent) this seems little more than a fig leaf. Anyway, deflation is not a danger for southern Europe but an essential precondition for restoring competitiveness. This is nothing less than a fiscal bailout – something the ECB has no right to undertake, as the German constitutional court implied when it declared OMT unlawful."
Competitiveness in Southern Europe is a function of the gap between inflation there and inflation here, it is defined in relative, not absolute, terms. And I don't know what to answer to "prices are still rising, so there is no deflation risk". A first-year economics student would get a failing grade for saying that.
I really don't get it. Is there a entirely different economic literature in Germany? Do they have completely different models we have not been told about? And this guy is not some obscure economist in a remote university, he's been ranked number one economist in Germany by RP online.
Peut être la prégnance de l'idéologie ?
RépondreSupprimerJe ne pense pas que ce monsieur soit intellectuellement déficient, et pour en arriver à proférer de tels propos, l'idéologie est un bon adjuvant.
Je suis au delà de la dépression...