Relevant Resources
In this book, Hirai, Marcuzzo, and Mehrling concisely target Keynes’ opinion of individual matters pertaining to the European Union. One instance specifically is that they draw intriguing parallels between Keynes’ notion of an International Clearing Union Plan. However, they come to the ultimate conclusion that the comprehensive European integration as it stands today was not a step in a the Keynesian direction. This result seems to contrast the opinions of many economists, which adds an important depth to the argument.
In this mathematical analysis of the Greek financial crisis, House and Tesar begin by detailing the current situation that Greece faces. Afterwards, they highlight various solutions to the financial crisis, with strong emphasis on budgetary remedies as well as stimulating the business cycle. Keynesian economics, though not always explicitly mentioned, line up quite well with what is summarized in that in order to effectively fix the financial crisis, the budget must be stymied while the labor force is manipulated to increase price level and output.
Karakas summarizes, in this briefing published directly from the European Parliament, the two major viewpoints of economic intervention from the European Central Bank in various nations in the European Union. The first of which is the idea of using “Quantitative Easing (QE)” to allow more fiscal autonomy to the different countries in attempts to help them with deficit spending and price stability. The contrasting notion is in accordance with the “Monetarist economic theory” which the status of private businesses and entities, the backbone of the economies, is contingent on changes in the money supply. An interesting aspect of this article, credited from the European Union itself, is the idea that a fiscal policy in itself can be regulated and implemented to such a large degree among its nineteen member states, even though each member state utilizing the euro supposedly has the national autonomy to set its own fiscal policy.
This public policy briefing examines the financial landscape of the international system following Second World War. Kregel then analyzes the weaknesses of the Eurozone and attempts to remedy them with the Keynesian school of thought. Ultimately, he concludes that it is not the currency itself which is the issue; rather, the problems lie in the abolition of national sovereignty. Kregel recommends that the EU put more emphasis on the powers of the member-states rather than compel them to conform to the EU bureaucratic overlay, which in turn would grant the member-states more economic autonomy.
This peer-reviewed article offers detailed background in the current euro crisis as well as the immediate pitfalls of the European Union as a whole. After explaining the basis for the argument, Vujačić provides a solution based on the works of John Maynard Keynes. A captivating point of the article is the idea that politics sit in a separate realm from economics; that is to say, public policy is different from fiscal policy. Through the Keynesian approach, Vujačić argues that, however, it is necessary for these two to complement each other, creating a much more rigid fiscal policy that would span the European Union in its entirety. In defending his argument, he draws from extensive textual references from The Economic Consequences of Peace by Keynes himself, providing a base for commentary upon which I later elaborate myself.