Design Defects and Policy Failures

An Institutional Analysis of the Eurozone Crisis

Oct 5, 2012

Overview

This seminar offers a diagnosis of the current European debt crisis that traces its origins to inherent flaws in the legal and institutional design of the Eurozone. Questions to be addressed include:

  • Is the European Monetary Union responsible for the current Eurozone crisis?
  • What role have core nations such as Germany and France played in the crisis, compared to peripheral nations such as Spain and Greece?
  • What are the political and economic implications of austerity?
  • What policies should Europe adopt to resolve this crisis?

Outline

  • ROHAN GREY: Seminar Introduction 0:00:00
  • GEORGES UGEUX: Opening Moderator Remarks 0:48
  • YANIS VAROUFAKIS: Introduction 3:54
  • YANIS VAROUFAKIS: Background – The 1920s 7:56
    • YANIS VAROUFAKIS: Introduction to Surplus Recycling 9:35
    • YANIS VAROUFAKIS: Post WWII & Bretton Woods 13:19
    • YANIS VAROUFAKIS: Why did the Gold Standard Die? 16:14
    • YANIS VAROUFAKIS: Post 1970s – US deficits and the birth of the Eurozone 16:40
      • YANIS VAROUFAKIS: Germany and the threat of Competitive Devaluation 18:50
      • YANIS VAROUFAKIS: Why did the European elites want to create the Eurozone? 21:30
    • YANIS VAROUFAKIS: The Maastricht Treaty and the Barriers to Entry for countries like Greece and Italy 24:42
      • YANIS VAROUFAKIS: 2000-2008 – Low German growth, periphery running on borrowed money 27:42
    • YANIS VAROUFAKIS: 2008 – Capital flows out of Europe, Domino effect 30:34
    • YANIS VAROUFAKIS: The Eurozone is Doomed 31:48
  • YOUTUBE: Misery Youtube clip 35:35
  • MARSHALL AUERBACK: The Eurozone has failed 37:55
    • MARSHALL AUERBACK: Greece as a whipping boy 40:37
    • MARSHALL AUERBACK: The Grexit 42:23
      • MARSHALL AUERBACK: Mario vs Mariano – The Problem in Spain 44:09

Participants

Speaker
Marshall Auerback
Director of Institutional Partnerships
Institute for New Economic Thinking
Speaker
Yanis Varoufakis
Finance Minister
Greece
Moderator
Georges Ugeux
Lecturer-in-Law
Columbia Law School

Core Reading

A Modest Proposal For Resolving The Eurozone Crisis, Version 3.0

Varoufakis, Yanis, and Stuart Holland A Modest Proposal for Resolving the Eurozone Crisis, Version 3.0., 2012.

A(Nother) Proposal For Saving The Euro Zone

Auerback, Marshall A(nother) Proposal for Saving the Euro Zone. https://yanisvaroufakis.eu, 2012.

Tax-Backed Bonds —A National Solution To The European Debt Crisis

Pilkington, Philip, and Warren B. Mosler Tax-Backed Bonds —A National Solution to the European Debt Crisis. Policy Note. Annandale-on-Hudson, NY: Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, 2012.

Yanis Varoufakis

Europe’s Modern Titanomachy: How Europe’s Future Is Being Shaped By Large Battles On Seemingly Small Matters (Part C)

Varoufakis, Yanis Europe’s Modern Titanomachy: How Europe’s Future is Being Shaped by Large Battles on Seemingly Small Matters (Part C). Thoughts for a Post-2008 World, 2012.

Europe’s Modern Titanomachy: How Europe’s Future Is Being Shaped By Large Battles On Seemingly Small Matters (Part B)

Varoufakis, Yanis Europe’s Modern Titanomachy: How Europe’s Future is Being Shaped by Large Battles on Seemingly Small Matters (Part B). Thoughts for a Post-2008 World, 2012.

Europe’s Modern Titanomachy: How Europe’s Future Is Being Shaped By Large Battles On Seemingly Small Matters (Part A)

Varoufakis, Yanis Europe’s Modern Titanomachy: How Europe’s Future is Being Shaped by Large Battles on Seemingly Small Matters (Part A). Thoughts for a Post-2008 World, 2012.

Interview With FXstreet.Com On Greek Exit

Varoufakis, Yanis Interview with FXstreet.com on Greek Exit. Thoughts for a Post-2008 World, 2012.

Why Is Europe Dithering? Our Politicians Caught In A Classical Buridian Conundrum

Varoufakis, Yanis Why is Europe Dithering? Our Politicians Caught in a Classical Buridian Conundrum. Thoughts for a Post-2008 World, 2011.

A New Versailles Treaty Haunts Europe

Varoufakis, Yanis A New Versailles Treaty Haunts Europe. Thoughts for a Post-2008 World, 2010.

First As History, Then As Farce: The Eurozone Revisited

Varoufakis, Yanis. “First as History, Then as Farce: The Eurozone Revisited.” Monthly Review (2010).