Research Catalog

Title

Europe's orphan : the future of the euro and the politics of debt / Martin Sandbu.

Author

Sandbu, Martin E.

Publication

Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2015]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xiv, 313 pages : illustrations; 25 cm

Summary

Originally conceived as part of a unifying vision for Europe, the euro is now viewed as a millstone around the neck of a continent crippled by vast debts, sluggish economies, and growing populist dissent. In Europe's Orphan, leading economic commentator Martin Sandbu presents a compelling defense of the euro. He argues that rather than blaming the euro for the political and economic failures in Europe since the global financial crisis, the responsibility lies firmly on the authorities of the eurozone and its member countries. The eurozone's self-inflicted financial calamities and economic decline resulted from a toxic cocktail of unforced policy errors by bankers, politicians, and bureaucrats; the unhealthy coziness between finance and governments; and, above all, an extreme unwillingness to restructure debt. Sandbu traces the origins of monetary union back to the desire for greater European unity after the Second World War. But the euro's creation coincided with a credit bubble that governments chose not to rein in. Once the crisis hit, a battle of both ideas and interests led to the failure to aggressively restructure sovereign and bank debt. Ideologically informed choices set in motion dynamics that encouraged more economic mistakes and heightened political tensions within the eurozone. Sandbu concludes that the prevailing view that monetary union can only work with fiscal and political union is wrong and dangerous--and risks sending the continent into further political paralysis and economic stagnation. Contending that the euro has been wrongfully scapegoated for the eurozone's troubles, Europe's Orphan charts what actually must be done for the continent to achieve an economic and political recovery.

Subject

• 2000-2099
• Money > European Union countries
• Euro
• Eurozone
• Monetary policy > European Union countries
• Financial crises > European Union countries
• Debt relief > European Union countries
• Money > European Economic Community countries
• 83.44 international monetary economics
• UE/CE Euro
• Dette publique
• Politique économique
• Crise financière
• Reprise économique
• UE/CE Etats membres
• Economic history
• Money
• Währungspolitik
• Öffentliche Schulden
• Finance and Accounting
• Debt relief
• Economic history
• Economic policy
• Euro
• Eurozone
• Financial crises
• Monetary policy
• Money
• Euro Währung
• Penningpolitik
• Finanskrisen 2008-2009
• Skuldavskrivning
• European Union countries > Economic policy
• European Union countries > Economic conditions > 21st century
• European Economic Community countries > Economic policy
• European Economic Community countries > Economic conditions > 21st century
• Europe > European Union countries
• European Economic Community countries
• European Union countries
• EU countries

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-302) and index.

Contents

1. A gaint historic mistake? -- 2. Before the fall -- 3. Freece and the idolatry of debt -- 4. Ireland: the private is political -- 5. Europe digs deeper -- 6. Righting the course: from bail-out to bail-in -- 7. If Europe dared to write down debt -- 8. Eurpoe's real economic challenges -- 9. The politics that the euro needs -- 10. Great Britain or little England -- 11. Remembering what the euro is for.

ISBN

• 069116830X
• 9780691168302

LCCN

2015944893

OCLC

• ocn921183925
• 921183925
• SCSB-14559927

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library