GDP releases are, by nature, lagging indicators and thus do not say a whole lot on the current momentum in the economy. Moreover, the immediate attention span when it comes to the Eurozone remains, and rightly so, focused on the situation in Greece (and Spain) and what plan exactly that is to emerge from the [...]

Paul Krugman has blogged an interesting analysis of the anatomy of the recent economic crisis in Europe (link).
Europe’s difficult macroeconomic situation in the aftermath of the financial and economic crisis has exacerbated rising fiscal deficits and public debt alongside strong deflationary pressures. These pressures were triggered by the highly negative output gap – the difference [...]

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
Churchill 1942
Summary

The extent, so far, of the internal devaluation process depends on the time period used for analysis. Using Q3-2007 as the beginning of the economic crisis suggest that Greece and [...]

If Friday was the day Macro Man had to pay for a wet evening in the company of alcoholic beverages, it was my turn yesterday as I spent the day trying to recover from a night where the amount of alcohol consumed had been beyond excessive. Thus, as I woke up, in agony, some time [...]

Who does not like a good argument? I for one do, especially when it comes to economics. A lot of water has already gone under the bridge relative to the note published a couple of weeks back by VariantPerception on the Spanish banking sector which provided a timely and, in my opinion, accurate analysis of [...]

I am a sucker for a good argument presented with the correct dose of eloquence and cold facts, and John Hempton’s latest tour of the balance sheet of the Spanish bank BBVA is just that. Essentially, John sets out to address the question of whether Spanish banks are hiding their losses or, as John ultimately [...]