Can Europe prosper without the euro?
In 2010, the 2008 global financial crisis morphed into the "eurocrisis."
It has not abated. The 19 countries of Europe that share the euro
currency - the eurozone - have been rocked by economic stagnation and
debt crises. Some countries have been in depression for years while the
governing powers of the eurozone have careened from emergency to
emergency, most notably in Greece.
In The Euro, Nobel Prize-winning economist and best-selling author
Joseph E. Stiglitz dismantles the prevailing consensus around what ails
Europe, demolishing the champions of austerity while offering a series
of plans that can rescue the continent - and the world - from further
devastation.
Hailed by its architects as a lever that would bring Europe together and
promote prosperity, the euro has done the opposite. As Stiglitz
persuasively argues, the crises revealed the shortcomings of the euro.
Europe's stagnation and bleak outlook are direct results of the
fundamental challenges in having a diverse group of countries share a
common currency - the euro was flawed at birth, with economic
integration outpacing political integration. Stiglitz shows how the
current structure promotes divergence rather than convergence. The
question, then, is: Can the euro be saved?
After laying bare the European Central Bank's misguided inflation-only
mandate and explaining how eurozone policies, especially toward the
crisis countries, have further exposed the zone's flawed design,
Stiglitz outlines three possible ways forward: fundamental reforms in
the structure of the eurozone and the policies imposed on the member
countries; a well-managed end to the single-currency euro experiment; or
a bold, new system dubbed the "flexible euro."
With its lessons for globalization in a world economy ever more deeply
connected, The Euro is urgent and essential listening.
