Epstein Secrets

conditions supportive of growth. While we expect the European Central Bank (ECB) to gradually shift to a more neutral stance

Centuries of Financial Folly, Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff use historical data from 66 countries between 181

uts and tax increases) self-defeating or the unavoidable response to high budget deficits and debt? Can central banks such as the Federal Reserve or the European Central Bank engineer recovery by holding short-term interest rates near zero and by buying massive amounts of bonds (so-called "quantitative easing")? Or will

iding the alleged intellectual justification for austerity — Alberto Alesina and Silvia Ardagna on "expansionary austerity" and Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff on the dangerous debt "threshold" at go percent of G.D.P. The problem is that the studies did not hold up under scrutiny. Because in late 2010, the

, Moody's and Fitch are back in the limelight. Every time they change the rating of a sovereign debt they move the markets. For a while the rules of the European Central Bank seemed to give enormous power to just one agency, Moody's. Had it downgraded Greece, the country's government bonds would not have been eligible fo

ure on items such as unemployment benefits. The hawks counter that there comes a point when further deficits are self-defeating. Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff suggest that the crunch arrives when the debt-to-GDP ratio reaches around 60% in emerging markets and 90% in developed economies. In rich countries