Thursday, January 29, 2015

How is the Greek financial crisis like the Irish Potato Famine?


David Zylberberg makes the case at Active History:
both reached the severity they did due to macroeconomic policies that prevented discretion in government policy. Simon Wren-Lewis has previously pointed out other similarities between the Irish famine and Eurozone crisis, most notably how cultural stereotypes in London or Bonn allowed policy makers to disregard suffering in Athens and Galway. 
Wren-Lewis notes the Greek consequences of European policies include a spike in infant mortality stillbirths and the return of malaria.

Another historical comparison is with Weimar Germany instead of Ireland, In the 1920s it was Germany arguing that emphasis on rapid debt repayment above all else would devastating and dangerous, while Germany's creditors continued to insist on being repaid.

 
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