The answer, even though they see over and over again that austerity leads to collapse of the economy, the answer over and over [from politicians] is more austerity. – Joseph Stiglitz, Asian Financial Forum…
In Ethiopia, the short food supply chain has enabled consumers and food growers to have a direct relationship with each other.
Benjamin Shepherd
Poverty is definitely not some bucolic ideal that we should romanticise. It is ugly, brutal and should be fought against. But there are lessons from the poor that we, in affluent (and frequently complacent…
Satyajit Das: “I think the democratic process and the politics of the world relies on a very fragile construct. One is trust. And trust relies on economic growth.”
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Kevin Davis, Australian Centre for Financial Studies
Welcome to the latest in our In Conversation series, between risk analyst and author Satyajit Das and Kevin Davis, Research Director of the Australian Centre for Financial Studies. Satyajit Das is an internationally-known…
Not so funny…. Portugal is the next vulnerable Euro nation, but it doesn’t fit the German-favoured critique of a profligate country unwilling to undertake reforms.
AAP
Harald Sander, Cologne University of Applied Sciences (CUAS)
Greece is rescued, for now…maybe. Perhaps it’s time to move on to the next basket case. So, which of the PIIGS is the next Greece? For the moment, Portugal looks to be the front-runner. The country’s public-debt-to-GDP…
Protests rocked Athens as Greek legislators voted to accept a tough austerity package. So what now for the Greek people?
AAP
As Greek politicians approved a tough austerity package amid fierce protests, one question dominates: is an orderly exit from the Eurozone available for Greece? And just what might be the consequences…
Eurozone countries must toe the fiscal line, or face the consequences under a new treaty signed this week.
AAP
Europe this week has voted for tough new fiscal rules aimed at reining in high deficits, as world economic leaders continue to grapple with solving the sovereign debt crisis. But not all measures have…
The eurozone crisis is moving beyond “spendthrift” countries in need of rescue, to the rescuers themselves.
AAP
Harald Sander, Cologne University of Applied Sciences (CUAS)
Early this week, sovereign bonds spreads for France and other Euro-core countries peaked. Around noon on Tuesday the spreads on French and Austrian 10-year government bonds exceeded the German bund rate…
Former EU commissioner Mario Monti will form government in Italy as Silvio Berlusconi exits.
AAP
Is the Eurozone about to crash and burn, leaving Club Med in its wake? Not so fast. Reports have suggested that French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have discussed a strategic…
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said he will resign after losing parliamentary support.
AAP
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi appears set to become the largest political casualty so far of the Eurozone’s continuing inability to resolve its massive sovereign debt problems. Berlusconi, who…
The Greek Prime MInister is on the way out, but the new government has a lot of work still to do.
AFP/Aris Messinis
The Greek Prime Minister will resign in an effort to save the bailout deal agreed by the European Union to dig the country out of its debt crisis. George Papandreou agreed to go following talks with the…
Greece’s tough austerity measures have been unpopular with citizens.
AAP
Greece’s cabinet has given unanimous backing to Prime Minister George Papandreou’s plan for a referendum on the government’s austerity program. Papendreou emerged from talks with fellow EU leaders at the…
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou will use the referendum to try to win a mandate for austerity measures.
AAP
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has taken the bold step of planning a referendum on the country’s EU-imposed austerity measures, in a bid to claim a mandate for his efforts to avoid a default on…
The first free elections borne from the Arab Spring were held in Tunisia. Over 90% of registered adults voted.
EPA/Zacarias Garcia
It has been a tumultuous week in the life and times of democracy in the Mediterranean. Seven days punctuated by joyous hope and its ugly opposite, sullen despair. The promising news came from Tunisia…
The Occupy movement: different agendas, but united by the right to civil disobedience.
The “Occupy” movement has swept the world in the last five weeks, as seems appropriate in this year of demonstrations by people tired of a clapped-out status quo. Of course, the Occupy movement is quite…
A 40% public hospital budget cut has restricted access to care.
AAP
Another round of violent protests erupted in Greece last week, following the latest austerity cuts to public service jobs and pay. Meanwhile, the creeping consequences of austerity measures are beginning…
If Greece’s economy collapses, it could easily lead to a breakdown of civil order.
AAP
Global markets look set for a rough week amid new concerns that Greece could default on its massive debt. The Australian share market has spent most of the day down 3% after reports that Germany could…
Nicolas Sarkozy, Christine Lagarde and Angela Merkel share a joke at Thursday’s Greece bailout talks.
AAP
European leaders signed off on a second, 109 billion euro bailout for Greece overnight, while also establishing what has been described as an “infant monetary fund” to intervene if the bloc’s sovereign…
Thursday’s make-or-break EU finance ministers meeting looks set to be a highly charged affair.
AAP
As Margaret Thatcher’s trade minister in the 1980s, Norman Tebbit devoted much of his time to dealing with the European Community – the precursor to the European Union. Routinely, at meetings in Brussels…
Many Greeks are ashamed by what has happened to their country.
EPA/Orestis Panagiotou
Athens is no longer considered by scholars as the birthplace of democracy but all of a sudden it has become the epicentre of a powerful political earthquake rocking the foundations of every democracy in…
“Indignado” protests prove a headache for Spain’s politicians but won’t threaten a greater Europe.
AAP
As international markets react to the unrest in Greece amid fears of contagion, mass protests have also continued in fellow European Union member country, Spain. This protest movement, called the “indignant…