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Default is the way forward

I am travelling today and over the next few days and so I am stealing moments at airports etc to write the blog in between other commitments. Today we consider the research evidence available which bears on the question of national government debt default. The question is becoming increasingly pressing in the failed Eurozone and there is clear resistance among the elites to the proposition that Greece, Ireland, Portugal – for starters – might ease their domestic economic woes by defaulting. It is clear from the actions and statements of the political and economic leaders that they are more interested in protecting the private interests of capital than they are in advancing the welfare of the citizens in the nations under attack from bond markets. It is also clear that they have lost grip of the an essential aspect of capitalism – private return means private risk. The boundaries between private and public have become so blurred in the EMU as the elites strive to socialise losses. The reality is the evidence that is available doesn’t support the conservative arguments being used to eschew the default option and, instead, impose fiscal austerity on these economies. The evidence suggests that the costs of default while significant are short-lived and evaporate quickly. It is also clear that austerity also imposes significant costs on a nation that span generations. The comparison in the context of adding up these costs over the long-run is a no-brainer – these nations should default and follow a domestic-led growth strategy by expanding their budget deficits. That would require them to leave the EMU which is also essential if they are to regain their capacity to advance the interests of their citizens. Default is the way forward.

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The IMF needs a budget deficit-biased head

Let Peter Costello work his magic at IMF – mounted a case for our former Treasurer (one of the worst this country has ever had) should get the baton and head to Washington. The problem is that Costello left a destructive mess in his wake and is a budget surplus obsessive. What the IMF needs is a budget deficit-biased head.

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When a nation stops growing

A lot of readers write to me questioning why I consider economic growth to be important. It is a complex topic and beyond a single blog – especially one that I am writing late this Friday afternoon. The short response is that I am not pro-growth. I am pro-employment and pro maximising human potential. In some circumstances economic growth is a necessary condition to achieve these goals – for example, when material standards of living are very low. In other situations, populations can still prosper with little or no growth. I do not advocate growth at the expense of environmental sustainability. But even with slow growth economies, fiscal policy is an important consideration and governments may have to expand budget deficits as a proportion of GDP to keep their economies from falling further backwards. That is the case in Japan at this present time – a nation that has all but stopped growing over the last twenty years.

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I'll buy the Acropolis

Sell, Sell, Sell – which referred to renewed calls for an even more expansive privatisation program in Greece than is already under way. The initial program of asset sales was projected to net more than 20 per cent of GDP in funds. But now the EU bosses want more. There appears to a group denial in Europe at present which is being reinforced by the IMF and the OECD and other organisations. They seem to be incapable of articulating the reality that if you savagely cut government spending while private spending is going backwards and the external sector is not picking up the tab then the economy will tank. Under those conditions policies that aim to cut the budget deficit will ultimately fail. But in the meantime the reason we manage economies – to improve the real lives of people – are undermined and living standards plummet and the distribution of income and wealth move firmly in favour of the rich. But if the price is right I’ll buy the Acropolis (and give it back to the people)!

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Calling Planet Earth – they will print low

More rate rises on the way: economists – where various “leading” bank economists were interviewed about the release of the minutes from the last month’s Monetary Policy Meeting of the Reserve Bank Board and the pending release of today’s wage cost data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. I heard that we are facing rising wage pressures which would force the RBA to hike interest rates soon and that increased fiscal rectitude was required to ease inflationary pressures. I checked the station to make sure I wasn’t receiving some short-wave radio station from an unknown planet somewhere. As it turned out I disagreed with everything my bank colleagues said which is no surprise. But I decided then to call today’s blog – “They will print low” – which was part a reflection of the opaque jargon these bank economists use to convince themselves that they have something important to say and partly my forecast for today’s wage data.

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Reality check for the austerians

Individuals often carry history on their shoulders by virtue of the positions they hold and the actions they take. When these individuals hold views about the economy that are not remotely in accord with the way the system operates yet can influence economic policy by disregarding evidence then things become problematic. It is no surprise that my principle concern when it comes to economics is how we can keep unemployment and underemployment low. That was the reason I became an economist in the late 1970s, when unemployment sky-rocketed in Australia and has been relatively high ever since. So when I read commentary which I know would worsen unemployment (levels or duration) if the opinion was influential I feel the need to contest it. That has been my motivation in economics all my career. A daily contest given that the mainstream of my profession is biased to keeping unemployment and underemployment higher than it otherwise has to be. Today I present a simple reality check for the austerians.

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