Paul Krugman's New York Times column makes for compelling reading. According to him, Hooverism and budget-balance orthodoxy rule the day in Europe and the U.S., just when more stimulus and more easy money should, what with record-high unemployment and deflation looming.
One solid reason I have for not quite buying P.K.'s pessimism is that I have a feeling very few early 1930s prominent columnists (except Keynes but he was far less revered then than he would be later on or than Paul Krugman is now for that matter) were calling for less orthodoxy and more stimulus. In those days, the typical newspaper article was more likely saying something along the lines of President Herbert Hoover's infamous "prosperity is just around the corner".
No comments:
Post a Comment