Monday, April 23, 2012

On austerity

On the pain in Spain, and in Greece and in the Czech Republic and in the Netherlands...

And here is an interview with Amartya Sen on austerity and democracy:

Question: Professor Sen, do you have the impression that economists and economic policy makers are learning the right lessons from the most severe economic and financial crisis since the Great Depression? 
Answer: I don’t think that at all. I’m quite disappointed by the nature of economic thinking as well as social thinking that connects economics with politics. 
What’s going wrong? 
Several features of policy making are worrying, particularly in Europe. The first is a democratic failure. An economic policy has to be ultimately something that people understand, appreciate and support. That’s what democracy is all about. The old idea of “no taxation without representation” is not there in Europe at the moment. 
...If you are living in a southern country, in Greece, and Portugal and Spain, the electorates views are much less important than the views of the bankers, the rating agencies and the financial institutions. One result of European monetary integration, without a political integration, is that the population of many of these countries has no voice. Economics is de-linked from the political base. That I think is a mistake and it goes completely against the big European movement that began in the 40s and fostered the idea of a democratic, united Europe. . .

1 comment:

  1. The interesting point about economics being diverged from the political base in the southern european countries: Look at which one triumphs.

    Maybe that's how we'll get one pan-global government - in the name of economic cooperation.

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