Recent comments by Helena Hessel

• Friedman Completed Keynes

  Amazingly clear article. Wonderful! If only now the policymakers could follow up with equally clear policy measures...

• The Tragedy and Farce of European Policy

  Wishful hope that the Italians, Spaniards, and Greeks will behave like the Koreans during their's country crisis in 1997.
  

• The First World’s Fiscal Follies

  Excellent article. Should be a mandatory reading for all members of the U.S. Congress.

• Why China Won’t Rule

  As always your article is very interesting. This time I also love your conclusions.

• Does Austerity Promote Economic Growth?

  I do not agree that the issue is purely statistical. The
  important issue is a 'qualitative' aspect of deficits. What are the reasons for government running/increasing/decreasing deficits? In the recent crisis, rising deficits in Iceland and/ or Ireland are 'qualitatively' very different from those in Greece or Portugal, for example. 'Putting' all deficits into the same basket and running a regression leads to confusing
  results and interpretations.
  If rising deficits results from the cut in taxes (benefitting mostly) rich (as in the U.S before the crisis), for example, the cut in spending to reduce them would lead to serious drop in growth. The issue , at hand, is really more political than a problem of uncontrolled experiment.