The Euro crisis. Causes and Symptoms


La Euro crisis. Causas y síntomas


https://doi.org/10.21670/ref.2015.32.a09

Authors

  • Christoph S. Weber Universitaet Erlangen-Nuernberg

Keywords:

Euro crisis, financial crisis, sovereign debt crisis, unemployment, balance of payment imbalances

Abstract

The Euro crisis is mainly a consequence of the international financial crisis of 2008. Thereby, the term Euro crisis is misleading as there is no currency crisis. First, the article shows some of the birth defects of the Euro. Second, it shows that the increase in public debt was caused by rescue measures for banks and anti-cyclical fiscal policy. Third, we argue that the Euro crisis is not just one crisis (a sovereign debt crisis) but it is a combination of several macroeconomic crises including a growth crisis, a labour market crisis, a public debt crisis, and a current account crisis.

Resumen

La crisis del euro es principalmente una consecuencia de la crisis financiera internacional de 2008. Pero el término “crisis del euro” es engañoso ya que no es una crisis de moneda. En primer lugar, el artículo muestra algunos de los defectos originarios en las políticas que dieron nacimiento al euro. En segundo lugar, muestra que el aumento de la deuda pública resulta de las medidas de rescate para los bancos y de la política fiscal anticíclica. En tercer lugar, se sostiene que la crisis del euro no consiste sólo en una crisis (la crisis de la deuda pública), sino que se trata de una combinación de varias crisis macroeconómicas que incluye una crisis de crecimiento, una crisis del mercado de trabajo, una crisis de la deuda pública y una crisis de la balanza de pagos.

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Published

2015-07-01

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Author Biography

Christoph S. Weber

Universitaet Erlangen-Nuernberg, Insitute of Economics.