Fiscal Crisis in Europe or a Crisis of Distribution?

10 May 2011 by Ozlem Onaran

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Abstract

We are in a new episode of the global crisis: the struggle to distribute the costs of the crisis. The financial speculators and corporations are relabeling the crisis as a “sovereign debt Sovereign debt Government debts or debts guaranteed by the government. crisis” and pressurizing the governments in diverse countries ranging from Greece to Britain to cut spending to avoid taxes on their profits and wealth. In Europe the crisis laid bare the historical divergences. At the root of the problem is the neoliberal model which turned the periphery of Europe into markets for the core.

The EU’s current policies are still assuming that the problem is a lack of fiscal discipline and do not question the structural reasons behind the deficits. The crisis calls for a major change in policy framework within Europe. This is a crisis of distribution and a reversal of inequality at the expense of labour is the only real solution.

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Fiscal Crisis in Europe or a Crisis of Distribution?

Author
Ozlem Onaran

Professor of Economics, director of Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre, University of Greenwich

Other articles in English by Ozlem Onaran (5)

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