Euro Economy Shedding Crisis Legacies

 In the article about Euro economy shedding crisis legacies, the author describes various ways current and could be used to shock the economy to accelerate growth in the euro region.As per the article the GDP growth was stronger in 2017 in comparison to prior periods and so there is a positive forecast estimates in the short term.  The article discusses various factors that were susceptible due to the euro crisis such as unemployment, TFP, Investment, Inflation etc., it is seen that the crisis has caused serious issues to the growth potential of output. As such of the employment growth has been robust but still less in comparison to the 2004 levels. Lately it is evident that crisis legacies have faded and also due to global uplift of various economies, Euro GDP also has seen an increase and is currently in an expansion phase. The author points out that investment and job capacity will most probably help raise in productivity that could provide for some more growth but aging population and TFP have caused serious issues, the TFP has been low due to deleveraging and low infrastructure spending. In terms of Inflation there seems to be increased due to wage growth etc. The article as states the importance of both Monetary policy and fiscal policy to work in coherence to boost potential upside, and also says that the “ultima ratio” policies need to be overcome and importance must be given to structural policies that increase productivity and lead to increased GDP. The author cautions that policies need to be implemented such that misallocation and overheating could be addressed such that resilience could be built to withstand asymmetric shocks etc.

        The article about Greek debt shows in detail the various options in hand that could be used to address the Greek Debt problem. The article talks about the debt problem and whether it is sustainable by greece, which is measured in the following way, the debt is deemed sustainable if the “debt ratio is declining and if the gross financing needs never increase 20% of GDP between 2019 - 2060”. The article highlights various options that were discussed but in summary says that in any scenario the debt is seen as very high and unstainable. Firstly in the use of debt instruments considered by the euro zone is seen as a medium term debt relief but that again is with some extraordinary ambitious assumptions that requires Greece to maintain a primary surplus or higher of 2% for 40 years. Option 1 is a way to add conditional face value of debt with incentives to achieve primary surplus. Option 2 and 3 are not considered ideal because it shifts the burden of payment to several generations into the future.