The logic and fairness of Greece’s programme

Olivier Blanchard, 23 December 20112011 was supposed to be the year that saw the back of the Global Crisis. Alas, the crisis is still with us as the North Atlantic banking part of the crisis morphed into the Eurozone crisis, and slow growth in advanced countries once again threatens emerging economies. In this column, IMF chief economist Oliver Blanchard draws the lessons from 2011’s economic and policy developments.Full Article: Blanchard on 2011’s four hard truths

This is the time of the year when economists, stock analysts and strategists present their views on what lies ahead — their best estimates. Meanwhile, over at the International Monetary Fund, the Washington-based organization that was one of three global entities set up almost 70 years back, is presenting a major mea culpa.

By Simon Johnson; for more on related issues, see my new Bloomberg column on the IMF succession.  For more background on the IMF, see Tuesday’s Planet Money Podcast. Greece has no good options. Without question, Greece brought debt problems on itself – this is the consequence of politicians using irresponsible fiscal policy to win elections.

Add the IMF’s Olivier Blanchard to the list of economists who thinks central banks should rethink their commitment to super-low inflation: IMF survey online: Central banks have chosen low inflation targets, around 2 percent. In your paper, you argue that maybe we should revisit this target. Why?

Miranda Xafa, 18 March 2012With Greece in deep recession for the fifth year running, several prominent observers have been calling on it to exit the Eurozone. This column argues this would not help Greece’s economy recover faster from its deep recession. Greece will still be the most heavily regulated country in the OECD and returning to a drachma would only add to the debt burden.Full Article: Greece’s exit from the Eurozone would be all pain, no gain

By Simon Johnson We live in an age of unprecedented bailouts.  The Greek package of support from the eurozone this weekend marks a high tide for the principle that complete, unconditional, and fundamentally dangerous protection must be extended to creditors whenever something “big” gets into trouble.