It Ain’t Over ’til It’s Over

Update: just a link to Wolfgang Munchau, who seems to make a similar argument.

Austerity partisans had a couple of rough weeks, with highlights such as the Reinhart and Rogoff blunder, and Mr Barroso’s acknowledgement that the European periphery suffers from austerity fatigue.
In spite of the media trumpeting it all over the place, and proclaiming the end of the austerity war, it is hard to believe that eurozone austerity will be softened. Sure, peripheral countries will obtain some (much needed) breathing space. But this is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for a significant policy reversal in the EMU.

Wages and Unemployment

The April data on Italian unemployment are out, and they look no good. Not at all. The overall rate (10.2%)  is at its maximum since the beginning of monthly data series (2004), and youth unemployment is  above 35%. The rest of Europe is not doing any better, with more than 17 millions people looking for a job in the eurozone alone.

We already knew. The latest data just add to the bleak picture. We also know (I discussed it) what the consensus diagnosis is: Too many rigidities, excessively high labour costs, both because of wages and of  taxes on labour (the so-called tax wedge). Therefore, let’s have lower wages, and all will be well! Unemployment will disappear, growth will resume. Mario Draghi said it rather nicely:

Policies aimed at enhancing competition in product markets and increasing the wage and employment adjustment capacity of firms will foster innovation, promote job creation and boost longer-term growth prospects. Reforms in these areas are particularly important for countries which have suffered significant losses in cost competitiveness and need to stimulate productivity and improve trade performance.

Unfortunately, things are not that simple. What about looking at a few data? It is simple to download them  from the website of Eurostat.

The Real Structural Reforms

I just published an editorial on the Italian daily il Corriere Della Sera (in Italian), that summarizes my views on the causes of the crisis and of global imbalances. It is a reprise of one of my first posts, written with Jean-Paul Fitoussi. It is useful to summarize and refresh the argument:

Something is Moving?

A picture of Germany somewhat different from the recent past emerges from two articles in the Financial Times of March 30:

• The first shows that, in a framework of decreasing unemployment, Germany’s domestic demand shows signs of vitality. Investment, and more remarkably consumption, increased moderately in 2011 and are forecasted to continue this year. Contrary to what happened in 2009-2011, most of growth for 2012 should come from domestic demand. This goes with (finally!) increasing wages, and some signs of price increases.
• The second article reports discussions on the ratification of the fiscal compact, with some parties in the Bundestag calling for a stop to austerity and for more solidarity towards troubled countries.

This does not mean that the overall stance of Germany will become openly  expansionary, as would be sorely needed. But it is at least an indicator that the German domestic context is less monolithic than it used to be. This cannot be bad…