Category International
Eurozone to issue yuan bonds???
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative is not normally a blog for very short posts. We try to be a bit more analytical. But there's really not much one can say about this idea reported in the Telegraph, other than: this is really stupid. The whole Eurozone problem is that each Eurozone country was issuing bonds in what […]
China and the Eurozone
My knowledge of what's happening in China is very slight. But from what I've been reading over the last few months (like this today), it sounds worrying. Others may have noticed this parallel, but just in case you missed it, I'm going to make it. Compare China vs the US to Spain or Ireland vs […]
The world wants more US government debt. The US Treasury should supply it.
This fascinating story came out during the psychodrama of the US debt ceiling: U.S. Treasury debt prices soared on Friday on fears a U.S. default could trigger a shortage of Treasuries and even push the world's largest economy back into recession. On the face of it, this makes no sense. The market's reaction to a […]
How to take apart the Eurozone, without sovereign “default”
1. Canada prints up 17 batches of banknotes. The first batch is called "New Drachmas"; the second batch is called "New Liras"; etc.; and holds them till D-day. 2. Canada prints up one batch of very good counterfeits of Euro banknotes, and holds them till D-day+365.
The Euro, “less competitive countries”, and the neutrality of money
I'm not a great defender of the Euro. I think it was a mistake. But there's one argument against the Euro that I'm not happy with. It goes something like this: "Some of the Eurozone countries are just permanently less productive than others. The less productive countries just can't compete if they all share a […]
Good and bad currency wars
Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is concerned that Switzerland's actions to depreciate the Swiss Franc against the Euro could lead to a currency war. But currency wars don't have to be bad; they could be good. It depends on how they are fought. If fought the right way, an invisible hand may lead to a […]
A shotgun wedding for the United States of the Euro?
"Ummm, you know that Free Trade Agreement we signed with the US and Mexico, a while back? And you know we said NAFTA was just a free trade agreement — nothing more? Ummm, well, it turns out we were wrong. Because of NAFTA, if Canada, Mexico, and the US don't now join together into one […]
Ranking Employment Performance
It has been the conventional wisdom in Canada that we have weathered the Great Recession and the financial crisis much better than the rest of the world. Ever wonder why when government comparisons are made about how Canada fared during the Great Recession, the comparison made is inevitably with the G-7 countries?
2 into 17 won’t go
Hans-Olaf Henkel (H/T Larry Willmore) suggests splitting the Eurozone seventeen into two. He wants Germany, Austria, Finland, and the Netherlands to leave the Euro and create their own new common currency. The remaining countries would keep the Euro. I don't think this would work. (But I agree a lot with the other things he says). […]
Gold Prices Bubbling Away
Well, I normally do not follow the price of gold or other precious metals but an email from a former student of mind has piqued my curiousity. My former student is studying medicine rather than economics but has a consuming interest in economics and markets and forwarded me a newsletter on the price of gold […]
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