The awful trap for struggling euro-zone countries
The Italian crisis is revealing the trap in which struggling euro-zone countries find themselves: They cannot leave the euro, because they have a large gross external debt in euros; Since there is no longer any capital mobility between the euro-zone countries, a fiscal deficit and demand stimulus lead to a sharp rise in interest rates without any possible reaction from the ECB. The rise in government bond yields immediately worsens the situation of banks; Policies to recover via internal devaluation and labour cost reductions have a very large cost in terms of jobs, which would probably be unacceptable in countries that already have an unemployment problem. If leaving the euro, increasing the fiscal deficit and reducing labour costs are all impossible, then all that is left are structural policies (education, innovation, etc.) the benefits of which will only appear in the long term. S truggling euro-zone countries will therefore continue to struggle for several years, which may pose a serious political and social problem.