2016-08-19economist.com

The persistent trade surpluses of Germany and the vast deficits of boomtime Spain, Portugal and Greece are two sides of the same coin. Indeed, in a world short of aggregate demand, German thrift is the bigger failing, argues Mr Stiglitz. He favours the remedy, first proposed by John Maynard Keynes, of forcing creditor countries to adjust by taxing their trade surpluses. But in redressing the balance, Mr Stiglitz gives too little weight to the mistakes of crisis countries.

... Mr Stiglitz is at his best when coolly analytical and at his most trying when settling scores. Yet on the essentials, he is surely right. Without a radical overhaul of its workings, the euro seems all but certain to fail.



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