Europe on the Brink: Debt Crisis and Dissent in the European Periphery

by Roberto Lavagna (Contribution by), Christina Laskaridis (Contribution by), Diana Knyazeva (Contribution by), Mariana Montagua (Contribution by), Anzhela Knyazeva (Contribution by)

Overview

Europe is suffering from a bipolar economic disorder. Financial jourbanalists divide the continent into two groups of nations - centre and periphery - not by geography but by credit rating. Europe on the Brink is a critical investigation of the root causes of this sovereign debt crisis, and the often misguided policy choices made to resolve it.

Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, together with two other finance experts, compares debt contagion in Europe with regional financial crises elsewhere, while Roberto Lavagna, former economics minister in Argentina, provides a poignant comparative analysis with his own country's experience. Crucially and uniquely, Portuguese, Greek and Irish economists provide hard-hitting case studies from the perspective of the periphery.

This much-needed book offers a heterodox economic perspective on the causes, symptoms and solutions of the biggest economic issue currently facing Europe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781783602131
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/10/2014
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Tony Phillips works on sovereignty issues in debt, development, energy and ecology. He was born in Dublin, Ireland.
Tony Phillips works on sovereignty issues in debt, development, energy and ecology. He was born in Dublin, Ireland.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Sovereign Bonds, Burden Sharing and the Troika’s Rescues - Tony Phillips
1. The Great Recession, Spillover in Europe, Banking Collapse in Ireland - Tony Phillips
2. Crises and Contagion: a Survey - Anzhela Knyazeva, Diana Knyazeva and Joseph Stiglitz
3. Countering the Myths of the Portuguese Debt - Mariana Rodrigues Mortágua
4. Greece: Europe’s Worst Success Story - Christina Laskaridis
5. Argentina 2001: A Heterodox Exit from the Crisis - Roberto Lavagna
Epilogue - Tony Phillips
Glossary

Editorial Reviews

This timely volume provides an indispensable guide for anyone who has had second thoughts about whether irresponsible governments in the Eurozone's peripheral regions could be the root cause of Europe-wide stagnation and joblessness. Europe on the Brink shows how European crisis can be traced instead to the Eurozone's unworkable design, which first permitted its unregulated banks' speculative excess and now insists that its residents pay the bill. The root causes of this misbegotten design - the dominance of neoclassical economics in policy discourse and of unchained finance in the global economy - have not been addressed; so Europe remains "on the brink". Find out why in these pages.” —Gary Dymski, Professor of Applied Economics, Leeds University Business School

“This book thoroughly exposes the economic, financial and democratic flaws of the EU institutions rooted in neoliberal thinking, and the "blame the victim" approaches to bolstering the economic system without addressing the causes of the financial and sovereign debt crises.” —Malcolm Sawyer, Emeritus Professor of Economics, Leeds University Business School

“This book is a thoughtful reflection on the way in which policies of monetary constipation have created the worst crisis in Europe since the 1930s, and the way in which that crisis has created crises of democracy and political economy in Europe. The agenda for the renewal of that democracy and political economy starts with this book and its young authors.” —Professor Jan Toporowski, SOAS, University of London

From the Publisher