Barry Eichengreen has a column at Project Syndicate.
Meanwhile, the European Commission reminds us of its political sophistication and deep-seated respect for democracy here. (HT Oliver Vandt.)
Commenter zhou_enlai raised the possibility earlier today of a debt buyback from the ECB. Such a buyback provides an interesting “third way” between the problematic bail–out strategy (new lending in the hope that some combination of growth/limited bank losses/primary budget surpluses will restore solvency) and the problematic bail-in strategy (restoring solvency through default).
Barry Eichengreen recently wrote an article in a German newspaper aimed squarely at the German business and political elite, castigating them for their hesitancy and lack of generosity toward the Irish bailout. Kevin O’Rourke has provided an English translation, and has described Eichengreen’s article as “magnificent and angry.”
The ESRI’s SWITCH model analysis of the distributional impact of the budget is now available (Irish Times article here). It will come as no great surprise to anyone who actually looked at the numbers that the budget was a good deal more progressive than much of the early commentary suggested. Given the importance of political acceptance under the current circumstances, I cannot understand why the Government did not have this analysis completed in advance and released on budget day.
I draw on arguments from some recent blog posts on the default question in a piece for today’s Irish Independent.