Comments 1

欧洲的空头财政契约

Feb 27, 2012 Martin Feldstein

美国剑桥—欧洲经济政策的推动力是政治统一的“欧洲工程”。这一目标体现于欧盟最近所致力甚深的“财政契约”上，根据该契约，成员国对不可违背的赤字上限的承诺将写入宪法。不幸的是，这份契约可能沦为欧洲经济现实屈从于迈向“前所未有的紧密联盟”的浮夸宣言的又一例证。

财政契约计划在最近几个月来进展神速，从政治上不受欢迎的“转移联盟”演变为危险的财政紧缩计划，最终将成为名存实亡的1997年增长与稳定公约修订版。看吧，今年晚些时候出台的协定根本无法改变欧洲的经济形势。

德国总理默克尔最开始提出的是“转移联盟”，德国和其他强劲欧元区经济体将逐年向希腊和其他困难经济体转移资金，作为交换，受助国的预算和税收将受到援助国的监督和管理。德国公众拒绝了这一德国纳税人向希腊的永久性转移支付计划，而希腊官员和希腊公众也拒绝由德国控制他们的财政政策。

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Martin Feldstein

Writing for PS since 2008
118 Commentaries

Martin Feldstein, Professor of Economics at Harvard University and President Emeritus of the National Bureau of Economic Research, chaired President Ronald Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers from 1982 to 1984. In 2006, he was appointed to President Bush's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, and, in 2009, was appointed to President Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Currently, he is on the board of directors of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, and the Group of 30, a non-profit, international body that seeks greater understanding of global economic issues.

0 Comments on this paragraph, 2 in all 2 Comments on this article

Procyon Mukherjee Feb 28, 2012

The article highlights two major points, one that a ‘fiscal compact’ is a better experiment to make than a ‘transfer union’ and secondly that the U.S. example of central taxes and subsidies is a far cry from the fiscal compact that does not have the wherewithal to stand the brunt of downturns, as there is nothing like ‘central’ revenues that could be sequestered for the needy in times of crisis.

I am curious on the other hand to take the U.S. example and extend it to those states like Louisiana or Florida, where impact of the last downturn saw unemployment rates soar, while the prices crashed; in percentage terms that is what Greece or Portugal would look like in comparative terms. The example of California and its fiscal woes, much downplayed though, does not augur well with the ‘automatic stabilizer’ theory as the same could replace either Spain or Italy in comparative terms to the European edifice of affliction.

Procyon Mukherjee
- Andrew Purdy May 7, 2012
  
  Americans can freely move from one State to another in search of jobs. Europeans can't. Mobility of labor is the biggest internal adjustment mechanism in the USA. Fiscal transfers between the Federal Government and the States are of secondary importance.