Opinion pieces

  • A real threat of stagnation, by Simon Tilford
    The Voice of Russia, 08 August 2011

    In Europe, or in the US more particularly, we are seeing investors are losing confidence in the ability of various economies, various governments to service their debts.

  • Eurobonds or bust, by Simon Tilford
    Project Syndicate, 08 August 2011

    The eurozone’s institutional weaknesses have been laid bare. The attempt to run a common monetary policy without a common treasury has failed.

  • It doesn’t matter who is president of Russia, by Charles Grant
    Financial Times, 02 August 2011

    In Moscow, the speculation about Russia’s next president is becoming tedious. Dmitry Medvedev has made it clear he would like to run again, but most people think Vladimir Putin, prime minister, will be the official candidate and win March’s election.

  • European leaders must step up their game, by Charles Grant
    Financial Times, 11 July 2011

    George Soros is right that Germany's new approach to Europe bears some responsibility for the eurozone crisis. Germany's leaders are finding it hard to consider broader European rather than immediate national interests.

  • A smaller eurozone would be stronger, by Charles Grant
    The Times, 20 June 2011

    A single European currency has the merit of encouraging trade and investment across frontiers, and thus growth. But countries with inflexible, badly-run economies should never have been allowed to join the euro. The sooner the eurozone shrinks, the sooner it will stabilise.

  • Compétitivité ou productivité pour relancer la croissance européenne?, by Simon Tilford
    Les Echos, 20 June 2011

    Une mauvaise compréhension de ce que sont les moteurs de la croissance économique menace la reprise en Europe. Ses dirigeants sont obsédés par la compétitivité et paraissent croire sincèrement que prospérité rime avec excédent commercial.

  • Europe’s competitiveness trap, by Simon Tilford
    Project Syndicate, 16 June 2011

    A flawed understanding of what drives economic growth has emerged as the gravest threat to recovery in Europe. European policymakers are obsessed with national “competitiveness,” and genuinely appear to think that prosperity is synonymous with trade surpluses.

  • Turkey's choice, by Katinka Barysch
    International Herald Tribune, 02 June 2011

    Turkey's election in 2007 was preceded by threats of a military coup. The 2002 one was overshadowed by an economic meltdown.