The Eurozone
After the Italian elections Piketty is arguing that the rise of European populism is not explained by any flood of immigrants but instead by the ill-timed austerity policies that led to the recession in 2011-2013 and the explosion of unemployment in Southern Europe. It is time, he argues, for Germany, France, Italy and Spain to set up a strengthened political and fiscal Union within the European Union, open of course to all the members, but one which nobody can block. “[…] reassure German opinion, we could add a clause guaranteeing that each country would benefit from expenditure equivalent to its contribution in tax. The aim is not to organise transfers between countries but to build a social and democratic public body which will enable the regulation of globalisation.”
Towards a Union in the Union
By: Thomas Piketty – Paris School of Economics
The US
It should not be a surprise that American corporations continue to thrive in international trade (it’s the American working class that is in trouble). Manufacturing is doing well, with the support of what Fred Block has termed the hidden developmental state in the US. So the problem is not that tariffs could not work. In all fairness, tariffs together with significant expansion of domestic spending on infrastructure (and more steel demand), with a vigorous defense of trade unions, with higher minimum wages, with policies to improve income distribution, like progressive taxes on the wealthy, to strengthen the domestic market might actually be part of a Hamiltonian strategy of economic growth. Note also that the whole point of imposing tariffs is to depend less on exports and more on domestic markets, so that to some extent retaliation should matter less.
The left and the return of protectionism
By: Matias Vernengo – Bucknell University
The UK
There have been three constants in the Brexit negotiations so far. The first is that the UK side makes speeches, and the EU side drafts agreements. In a way this is logical, because of the second constant, which is that the clock is always ticking. The ticking clock means the EU has nearly all the power in these negotiations. That leads to the third constant, which is that whatever is finally agreed is pretty close to the original EU drafts.
Tangled up in red
By: Simon Wren Lewis – Oxford University
