The Euro

How a Common Currency Threatens the Future of Europe

Joseph Stiglitz

The Euro Image

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.

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Hardcover
ISBN13: 978-0393254020
ISBN10: 039325402X

$28.95

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 a direct result 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 reading.

See the first interview with Joseph Stiglitz about the book with Peter Goodman of The New York Times.

About the Author

Joseph Stiglitz
President
Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD)

Joseph E. Stiglitz is President of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, and Chairman of the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University. He is University Professor at Columbia, teaching in its Economics Department, its Business School, and its School of International and Public Affairs. He chaired the UN Commission of Experts on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System, created in the aftermath of the financial crisis by the President of the General Assembly. He is former Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank and Chairman of President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisors. He was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 2001.

Press Related to the Book

The Brutal Battle Over the Euro

The New York Review of Books, December 8, 2016

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/12/08/the-brutal-battle-over-the-euro/

The Failure of the Euro

The New Yorker, October 24, 2016

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/24/the-failure-of-the-euro

A Closer Look With Arthur Levitt: Joseph Stiglitz

Bloomberg, October 15, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2016-10-15/a-closer-look-with-arthur-levitt-joseph-stiglitz-audio

A Knot in the Purse Strings: Where the European Monetary Union Went Wrong

New Statesman, October 14, 2016

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/economy/2016/10/knot-purse-strings-where-european-monetary-union-went-wrong

Nobel Laureate Stiglitz Sees Italy, Others Leaving Euro Zone in Coming Years

CNBC, October 6, 2016

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/06/nobel-laureate-stiglitz-sees-italy-others-leaving-euro-zone-in-coming-years.html

Euro Septic: The Problems with the European Single Currency and the Unlikelihood of a Solution

TLS (The Times Literary Supplement), September 30, 2016

http://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/euro-septic/

Europe and the Future of the Euro

Columbia University, September 28, 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxlOaFFd2S4

Stiglitz Speaks: On Globalization's Grand Failure, Apple, And Bad Trade Deals

Huffington Post, September 16, 2016

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/stiglitz-speaks-on-global_b_12044886.html

Is the Euro Killing Europe?

Slate/Politics & Prose, September 15, 2016

http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/live_at_politics/2016/09/joseph_stiglitz_discusses_his_new_book_the_euro.html

The Real Issues Of The Eurozone And How To Solve Them

Social Europe, September 8, 2016

https://www.socialeurope.eu/2016/09/the-real-issues-of-the-eurozone-and-how-to-solve-them/

Here's Why Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz Thinks the Euro Is Doomed

Fortune, September 8, 2016

http://fortune.com/2016/09/08/stiglitz-euro-doomed-nobel/

Behind Joe Stiglitz's Dire View of the Euro

Reuters, September 7, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economics-stiglitz-idUSKCN11D2QB

C-SPAN "Book TV" Lecture

C-SPAN, September 7, 2016

https://www.c-span.org/video/?414303-1/euro

Joseph Stiglitz: 'The EU's monetary union was the mistake'

The Telegraph Business, September 4, 2016

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/09/04/joseph-stiglitz-monetary-union-was-the-mistake/

Is Project Europe Doomed?

Harvard Business Review, September 1, 2016

https://hbr.org/2016/09/is-project-europe-doomed

Nobel Prize-Winning Economist Explains the Key Factor That's Tearing Europe Apart

Inc.com, August 31, 2016

http://www.inc.com/joseph-stiglitz/the-key-factor-tearing-europe-apart.html

Is Europe Heading To Economic Disaster?

US News, August 25, 2016

http://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2016-08-25/joseph-stiglitz-on-how-to-save-the-eurozone

Joseph Stiglitz on the Euro

KPFA-FM, August 25, 2016

https://kpfa.org/episode/upfront-august-25-2016/

"Flawed at Birth": Why the Eurozone Faces Endless Division

Sirius XM, August 24, 2016

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/how-the-euro-threatens-europes-future/

Stiglitz: The Days of the Euro are Numbered

Yahoo Finance, August 23, 2016

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/joseph-stiglitz-end-euro-000000619.html

Joseph Stiglitz on Europe's Economic Challenges

CNN, August 23, 2016

http://money.cnn.com/video/news/economy/2016/08/23/joseph-stiglitz-euro-brexit.cnnmoney/index.html

Salon Live Interview on Facebook

Salon, August 22, 2016

https://www.facebook.com/salon/videos/vb.120680396518/10153905747696519/?type=2&theater

Stiglitz: Italy Could be the 'Cataclysimic Event' that Leads to the Fall of the Eurozone

Business Insider, August 22, 2016

http://www.businessinsider.com/joseph-stiglitz-on-italy-collapse-and-the-end-of-the-euro-2016-8

Stiglitz on Common Currency Threatening Europe Future

Bloomberg, August 22, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2016-08-22/stiglitz-on-common-currency-threatening-europe-future-audio

Bloomberg TV "Surveillance" Interview

Bloomberg, August 18, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2016-08-18/full-show-surveillance-08-18

Joseph Stiglitz Asks, "Can the Euro be Saved?

NPR/WNYC, August 18, 2016

http://www.wnyc.org/story/euro-joseph-sitglitz/

Surveillance: Stiglitz, Valliere, Zentner, Ross

Bloomberg, August 18, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2016-08-18/surveillance-stiglitz-valliere-zentner-ross

Euro Currency Sinking Eurozone, Says Stiglitz

The Street, August 18, 2016

https://www.thestreet.com/video/13679595/euro-currency-sinking-eurozone-says-stiglitz.html

Nobel Prize Winner Joseph Stiglitz Says Euro Was Flawed From The Start

Huffington Post, August 18, 2016

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/joseph-stiglitz-euro_us_57b6159ae4b03d513687391a

Stiglitz Wants 'Amicable Divorce' If Euro Area Can't Reform

Bloomberg, August 18, 2016

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-18/stiglitz-calls-for-amicable-divorce-if-euro-area-can-t-reform

"An Utter Failure": Joseph Stiglitz on the Euro and Europe's Uncertain Future

New Republic, August 18, 2016

https://newrepublic.com/article/136124/an-utter-failure-joseph-stiglitz-euro-europes-uncertain-future

8 Questions with Joseph Stiglitz

TIME, August 18, 2016

http://time.com/4457109/joseph-stiglitz-interview/

Is the Euro to Blame for Europe's Problems?

NPR, August 18, 2016

http://www.marketplace.org/2016/08/17/economy/stiglitz-euro-globalization-trade

The Future of Europe and the Euro: Joseph Stiglitz

CNBC, August 17, 2016

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000543729

Fixing Our Slow-Growth Economy

NPR/WBUR, August 17, 2016

http://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2016/08/17/euro-crisis-slow-economic-growth

What Can be Done to Save the Euro?

MSNBC, August 17, 2016

http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/what-can-be-done-to-save-the-euro-745827907773

Joseph Stiglitz on Brexit, Europe's Long Cycle of Crisis, and Why German Economics is Different

Quartz, August 16, 2016

http://qz.com/744854/joseph-stiglitz-euro-future-of-europe-book/

Europe Needs a Two-Tier Solution to Move Past Brexit

Bloomberg, August 12, 2016

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-08-12/europe-needs-a-two-tier-solution-to-move-past-brexit

Nobel Laureate Stiglitz Says Sovereignty is at the Root of Challenges to the European Union

TheStreet, August 2, 2016

https://www.thestreet.com/story/13658585/1/nobel-laureate-stiglitz-says-sovereignty-is-at-the-root-of-challenges-to-the-european-union.html

3 Ways to Fix the EU from a Nobel-Prize Winner

Fortune, July 29, 2016

http://fortune.com/2016/07/29/euro-joseph-stiglitz-fixing-eu/

How a Currency Intended to Unite Europe Wound Up Dividing It

The New York Times, July 27, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/28/business/international/how-a-currency-intended-to-unite-europe-wound-up-dividing-it.html

Interview on New Book The Euro (Live Interview on Facebook)

The New York Times, July 26, 2016

https://www.facebook.com/nytimes/videos/vb.5281959998/10150856937844999/?type=2&theater

Publication Information

Type Book
Program -
Posted 07/26/16
Download Not Available
# Pages 448
Publisher W.W.Norton
Year 2016