From Bear Stearns to Anglo Irish: How Eurozone Sovereign Spreads Related to Financial Sector Vulnerability

Ashoka Mody of the IMF has written an interesting paper on European sovereign spreads: more details here.

Adjustment in Latvia

The NYT provides an interesting profile of the Latvian economy here.

Papers and Slides from TCD-DEW Economic Policy Conference

You can find the papers (where available) and slides from today’s TCD-DEW Economic Policy conference here.

Rathmines and the IMF

This Rathmines internet cafe is seeking to ward off IMF intervention:

IMF and Rathmines

Lenihan on the ECB and the Guarantee

In my earlier post on the government’s criticisms of the IMF, I left out what was probably the most interesting argument because it raised a number of other issues.

Speaking on This Week on Sunday, the Minister for Finance criticised the IMF’s assessment of the cost of the liability guarantee on the grounds that the guarantee would not be called on. I’ve already noted that this is a somewhat spurious way to look at the cost of the guarantee. However, what was particularly odd about the Minister’s comments was his particular explanation of why the guarantee would not be called upon.