IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/mes/ijpoec/v45y2016i1p46-71.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Myths, Mix-ups, and Mishandlings: Understanding the Eurozone Crisis

Author

Listed:
  • Servaas Storm
  • C.W.M. Naastepad

Abstract

The Eurozone crisis has been wrongly interpreted as either a crisis of fiscal profligacy or of deteriorating unit-labor cost competitiveness (caused by rigid labor markets), or a combination of both. Based on these diagnoses, crisis countries have been treated with the bitter medicines of fiscal austerity, wage reductions, and labor market deregulation—all in the expectation that these would restore cost competitiveness and revive growth (through exports), while at the same time allowing for fiscal consolidation and private debt deleveraging. The medicines did not work and almost killed the patients. The problem lies with the diagnoses: the real cause of the crisis resides in unsustainable private sector debt leverage, which was aided and abetted by the liberalization of European financial markets and a “global banking glut.”

Suggested Citation

  • Servaas Storm & C.W.M. Naastepad, 2016. "Myths, Mix-ups, and Mishandlings: Understanding the Eurozone Crisis," International Journal of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(1), pages 46-71, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:mes:ijpoec:v:45:y:2016:i:1:p:46-71
    DOI: 10.1080/08911916.2016.1159084
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/08911916.2016.1159084
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/08911916.2016.1159084?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Philippe Martin & Thomas Philippon, 2017. "Inspecting the Mechanism: Leverage and the Great Recession in the Eurozone," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(7), pages 1904-1937, July.
    2. Chmelar, Ales, 2013. "Household Debt and the European Crisis," ECRI Papers 8239, Centre for European Policy Studies.
    3. G. Gaulier. & V. Vicard., 2012. "Current account imbalances in the euro area: competitiveness or demand shock?," Quarterly selection of articles - Bulletin de la Banque de France, Banque de France, issue 27, pages 5-26, Autumn.
    4. Hubert Gabrisch & Karsten Staehr, 2015. "The Euro Plus Pact: Competitiveness and External Capital Flows in the EU Countries," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 558-576, May.
    5. Philip R. Lane & Barbara Pels, 2012. "Current Account Imbalances in Europe," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp397, IIIS.
    6. Gabrisch, Hubert & Staehr, Karsten, 2014. "The euro plus pact: cost competitiveness and external capital flows in the EU countries," Working Paper Series 1650, European Central Bank.
    7. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/78jqkj5bb48tgb9ah9a0kqhplu is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Peter Temin & David Vines, 2013. "The Leaderless Economy: Why the World Economic System Fell Apart and How to Fix It," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 9932.
    9. Jacopo Costa & Roberto Ricciuti, 2013. "Sources for the Euro Crisis: Bad Regulation and Weak Institutions in Peripheral Europe," Working Papers 15/2013, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    10. Onaran, Özlem. & Galanis, Giorgos., 2012. "Is aggregate demand wage-led or profit-led? National and global effects," ILO Working Papers 994786233402676, International Labour Organization.
    11. Mr. Ruben V Atoyan & Mr. Dustin Smith & Mr. Albert Jaeger, 2012. "The Pre-Crisis Capital Flow Surge to Emerging Europe: Did Countercyclical Fiscal Policy Make a Difference?," IMF Working Papers 2012/222, International Monetary Fund.
    12. Philip R. Lane & Peter McQuade, 2014. "Domestic Credit Growth and International Capital Flows," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 116(1), pages 218-252, January.
    13. Stephen Cecchetti & Madhusudan Mohanty & Fabrizio Zampolli, 2011. "The real effects of debt," BIS Working Papers 352, Bank for International Settlements.
    14. Sebastian Gechert & Ansgar Rannenberg, 2015. "The Costs of Greece's Fiscal Consolidation," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 84(3), pages 47-59.
    15. Stephan Danninger & Fred Joutz, 2008. "What Explains Germany's Rebounding Export Market Share?," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 54(4), pages 681-714, December.
    16. Louise Curran & Soledad Zignago, 2009. "Evolution of EU and its Member States' Competitiveness in International Trade," Working Papers 2009-11, CEPII research center.
    17. International Monetary Fund, 2010. "European Financial Linkages: A New Look At Imbalances," IMF Working Papers 2010/295, International Monetary Fund.
    18. repec:ilo:ilowps:478623 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/78jqkj5bb48tgb9ah9a0kqhplu is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Claudius Gräbner & Philipp Heimberger & Jakob Kapeller & Bernhard Schütz, 2017. "Is Europe Disintegrating? Macroeconomic Divergence, Structural Polarisation, Trade and Fragility," wiiw Working Papers 136, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    2. Claudius Gräbner & Philipp Heimberger & Jakob Kapeller, 2020. "Pandemic pushes polarisation: the Corona crisis and macroeconomic divergence in the Eurozone," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 47(3), pages 425-438, September.
    3. Philipp Heimberger & Jakob Kapeller, 2017. "The performativity of potential output: pro-cyclicality and path dependency in coordinating European fiscal policies," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(5), pages 904-928, September.
    4. Karsten Kohler & Engelbert Stockhammer, 2022. "Growing differently? Financial cycles, austerity, and competitiveness in growth models since the Global Financial Crisis," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(4), pages 1314-1341, July.
    5. Alex Izurieta & Pierre Kohler & Juan Pizarro, 2018. "Financialization, Trade, and Investment Agreements: Through the Looking Glass or Through the Realities of Income Distribution and Government Policy?," GDAE Working Papers 18-02, GDAE, Tufts University.
    6. Luis Cárdenas & Paloma Villanueva & Ignacio Álvarez & Jorge Uxó, 2018. "Peripheral Europe beyond the Troika. Assessing the 'success' of structural reforms in driving the Spanish recovery," FMM Working Paper 40-2018, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    7. Claudius Gräbner & Philipp Heimberger & Jakob Kapeller & Bernhard Schütz, 2020. "Structural change in times of increasing openness: assessing path dependency in European economic integration," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 30(5), pages 1467-1495, November.
    8. Karsten Kohler, 2022. "Capital Flows and the Eurozone's North-South Divide," Working Papers PKWP2211, Post Keynesian Economics Society (PKES).
    9. Villanueva, Paloma & Cárdenas, Luis & Uxó, Jorge & Álvarez, Ignacio, 2020. "The role of internal devaluation in correcting external deficits: The case of Spain," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 282-296.
    10. Philipp Heimberger, 2017. "Österreichs Staatsausgabenstrukturen im europäischen Vergleich," wiiw Research Reports in German language 8, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    11. John Marangos, 2023. "The Post-Keynesian Perspective and Policy Recommendations for the Greek Financial Crisis," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 55(3), pages 423-447, September.
    12. Engelbert Stockhammer & Andre Novas Otero, 2023. "A tale of housing cycles and fiscal policy, not competitiveness. Growth drivers in Southern Europe," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 483-505, May.
    13. Walter Paternesi Meloni, 2021. "The price vs. non-price competitiveness conundrum: a post-Keynesian comparative political economy analysis," Working Papers PKWP2109, Post Keynesian Economics Society (PKES).
    14. Juneja, Januj, 2017. "How Germany benefits the most from its Eurozone membership," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1074-1088.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Servaas Storm & C.W.M. Naastepad, 2015. "NAIRU economics and the Eurozone crisis," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(6), pages 843-877, November.
    2. Storm, Servaas & Naastepad, C.W.M., 2015. "Crisis and recovery in the German economy: The real lessons," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 11-24.
    3. Servaas Storm & C.W.M. Naastepad, 2015. "Crisis and Recovery in the German Economy: The Real Lessons," Working Papers Series 10, Institute for New Economic Thinking.
    4. Caiani, Alessandro & Catullo, Ermanno & Gallegati, Mauro, 2019. "The effects of alternative wage regimes in a monetary union: A multi-country agent based-stock flow consistent model," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 389-416.
    5. Benedicta Marzinotto, 2016. "Income Inequality and Macroeconomic Imbalances under EMU," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 110, European Institute, LSE.
    6. Benedicta Marzinotto, 2017. "Euro area macroeconomic imbalances and their asymmetric reversal: the link between financial integration and income inequality," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 34(1), pages 83-104, April.
    7. Walter Paternesi Meloni, 2017. "Austerity & Competitiveness in the Eurozone: a misleading linkage," Departmental Working Papers of Economics - University 'Roma Tre' 0223, Department of Economics - University Roma Tre.
    8. Paternesi Meloni, Walter, 2016. "Austerity and competitiveness in the Eurozone: a misleading linkage," MPRA Paper 75962, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Hubert Gabrisch, 2015. "Net Capital Flows To And The Real Exchange Rate Of Western Balkan Countries," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 60(205), pages 31-52, April – J.
    10. Claudius Gräbner & Philipp Heimberger & Jakob Kapeller & Bernhard Schütz, 2017. "Is Europe Disintegrating? Macroeconomic Divergence, Structural Polarisation, Trade and Fragility," wiiw Working Papers 136, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    11. Mariarosaria Comunale & Jeroen Hessel, 2014. "Current account imbalances in the Euro area: Competitiveness or financial cycle?," DNB Working Papers 443, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    12. Philip R. Lane, 2019. "Macrofinancial Stability and the Euro," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 67(3), pages 424-442, September.
    13. Jan Priewe, 2018. "A time bomb for the Euro? Understanding Germany's current account surplus," IMK Studies 59-2018, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    14. D. Siena, 2014. "The European Monetary Union and Imbalances: Is it an Anticipation Story ?," Working papers 501, Banque de France.
    15. Jean-Charles Bricongne & Leonor Coutinho & Alessandro Turrini & Stefan Zeugner, 2020. "Is Private Debt Excessive?," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 471-512, April.
    16. Raphael Fischer & Gunther Schnabl, 2018. "Regional heterogeneity, the rise of public debt and monetary policy in post-bubble Japan: lessons for the EMU," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 405-428, April.
    17. Ronny Mazzocchi & Roberto Tamborini, 2019. "Current Account Imbalances and the Euro Area: Alternative Views," EconPol Working Paper 27, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    18. Benedetta Bianchi, 2016. "Sovereign Risk Premia and the International Balance Sheet: Lessons from the European Crisis," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 471-493, July.
    19. Fabiani, Josefina & Fidora, Michael & Setzer, Ralph & Westphal, Andreas & Zorell, Nico, 2021. "Sudden stops and asset purchase programmes in the euro area," Working Paper Series 2597, European Central Bank.
    20. Brunnermeier, Markus & De Gregorio, José & Eichengreen, Barry & El-Erian, Mohamed & Fraga, Arminio & Ito, Takatoshi & Lane, Philip R. & Pisani-Ferry, Jean & Prasad, Eswar & Rajan, Raghuram & Ramos, Ma, 2012. "Banks and cross-border capital flows: challenges and regulatory responses," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102439, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mes:ijpoec:v:45:y:2016:i:1:p:46-71. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/MIJP20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.