How will austerity-averse Europe affect Asia?

By Reda Cherif, economist at the IMF, and Fuad Hasanov, economist at the IMF. Originally published at VoxEU.

By Qineqt:Hollande has become the first Socialist president of France since Francois Mitterand in 1981-1995. Hollande took 51.6% of the votes to defeat Nicholas Sarkozy. The polls for the last few months have been forecasting a similar result.

The fallout from Reinhart and Rogoff's Excel error appears to have officially jumped from the digital to the real (h/t Jim Pethokoukis). 

In response to Italians Cut Spending in Worst Christmas in 10 Years; Harsh Times Ahead for All Europe (an article translated from Spanish that had me puzzled about a number of things even though I could tell spending fell dramatically), reader Andrea offers a very nice explanation of just how bad things are in Italy. Hello Mish, I can help your readers better understand the reported "spending cuts in Italy".

Analysis: As austerity bites, Western Europe faces a near inevitable rise in protest and unrest in 2011 which is likely to hit markets and dampen weak governments' appetite for reform but not affect policies dramatically

The stereotype is that Americans are more risk-loving and entrepreneurial than the less-rugged Europeans who instead seek shelter under the umbrella of the welfare state.  Yet when I talk about the FDA I point out that for many decades (from say the late 1960s to PDUFA in 1993 and perhaps again more recently) the FDA lagged behind its European counterparts in approving new drugs.  U.S.

Research Recap submits: Moody’s new operational risk guidelines for global structured finance transactions could affect the senior ratings of up to 200 transactions worldwide. These transactions include around 80 RMBS, 30 ABS, 20 CMBS in Europe and 47 student loan ABS in the U.S., Moody’s said.