Europe Isn't Working
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Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson
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Format: HardcoverPrice: $30.00
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A timely and provocative account of why the euro has failed and why, as a result, the Union will unravel
Europe's center-left is rapidly falling out of love with the European single currency. Fifteen years after its creation, British journalists Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson assess its performance to show why. Looking at a range of key indicators the authors show how the euro has failed to deliver on its promise of more jobs, more growth and greater equality. Instead it has undermined the European Union.
Elliott and Atkinson compare the European Central Bank to the Federal Reserve, arguing that the architects of the euro subjugated economic measures to political considerations. Consequently, countries that didn’t meet the economic convergence criteria were still allowed entry. The end result is a dysfunctional currency union that is unable to cope with difficult economic circumstances. Assessing the situations in Greece, Germany, Italy, France, Ireland, and Iceland, as well as Britain, they show that the current policy of kicking the can down the road and hoping that something will turn up is proving increasingly unpopular with the currency's one-time fans in progressive politics. This engaging and accessibly written volume will be widely read by economists, pundits, and policymakers as Britian considers its future relationship with Europe.
Europe's center-left is rapidly falling out of love with the European single currency. Fifteen years after its creation, British journalists Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson assess its performance to show why. Looking at a range of key indicators the authors show how the euro has failed to deliver on its promise of more jobs, more growth and greater equality. Instead it has undermined the European Union.
Elliott and Atkinson compare the European Central Bank to the Federal Reserve, arguing that the architects of the euro subjugated economic measures to political considerations. Consequently, countries that didn’t meet the economic convergence criteria were still allowed entry. The end result is a dysfunctional currency union that is unable to cope with difficult economic circumstances. Assessing the situations in Greece, Germany, Italy, France, Ireland, and Iceland, as well as Britain, they show that the current policy of kicking the can down the road and hoping that something will turn up is proving increasingly unpopular with the currency's one-time fans in progressive politics. This engaging and accessibly written volume will be widely read by economists, pundits, and policymakers as Britian considers its future relationship with Europe.
Larry Elliott is economics editor at the Guardian.Dan Atkinson is financial editor at Sticky Content. Both authors live in the UK.
"As the debate over the future of Europe rages, this is a brilliantly compelling book that exposes the terrible failure of the euro project."—Owen Jones
‘This book is a must-read for anyone who cares about the future of Europe and progressive politics. Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson correctly predicted the euro would prove a calamity. They are right today that the euro crisis is far from over. Their demand for a radical change of approach must be taken seriously – by policy makers and politicians alike.’
‘Elliott and Atkinson have done it again. This is a brilliantly written and powerfully argued attack on the Euro project. They can justly claim to have been members of “the Few” who foresaw the disaster that the Euro would turn out to be. Now they are part of the even smaller number who recognize that the euro needs to break up.’
‘This important, readable book encapsulates why the euro was created and has failed so miserably. Elliott and Atkinson have been among the few who have foreseen and reported on the problems along the way, and here the reader is given insights from the centre of European policy-making and the heart of British politics. We are told they have been planning to write this book for thirty years. It has been well worth the wait.’
‘All sides in the European debate call for various forms of “reform”.
Whatever one’s standpoint, this new work by the tried and tested team
of Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson is essential reading on the problems
afflicting the European Union, and possible solutions.'
Whatever one’s standpoint, this new work by the tried and tested team
of Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson is essential reading on the problems
afflicting the European Union, and possible solutions.'
“[The book] offers useful insight into why so many people thought the euro was a good idea in the first place.”—Harvard Business Review
ISBN: 9780300221923
Publication Date: August 1, 2016
Publication Date: August 1, 2016
320 pages, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2
12 b/w illus.
12 b/w illus.
