Many European countries and Japan need to free their labour markets and liberalise services to boost productivity growth. Zanny Minton Beddoes Read Quote
Europe’s budget plans are better designed: countries from France to Greece are raising retirement ages; others, from Britain to Germany, have created new organisations and rules to encourage fiscal probity. But Europe risks overkill. Zanny Minton Beddoes Read Quote
Governments need to lay out a credible path to reducing their deficits in the medium term, but without excessively enfeebling an already weak recovery. That means raising retirement ages and overhauling pensions; putting in place the budget rules and institutions that will curb future profligacy; and favouring spending cuts over tax increases. Zanny Minton Beddoes Read Quote
The problem with one single minimum wage is that you don’t allow for younger people, who are less skilled and maybe more easily pushed out of the job market, or that the minimum wage should vary for different regions. Zanny Minton Beddoes Read Quote
The impact of a minimum wage depends on how high it is to average wages. If you have too high a minimum wage, it will hurt job creation, and you will have negative job effects. Zanny Minton Beddoes Read Quote
The industrial world enjoys a rare combination of growth and low inflation; the ‘Washington consensus,’ a model of economic development that emphasizes macroeconomic discipline and open markets, is being adopted by more countries. Zanny Minton Beddoes Read Quote
Developing countries have much to gain from capital mobility: the ability to tap external sources of finance, greater financial efficiency from deeper stock and bond markets, and technology transfer and know-how from foreign direct investment. Zanny Minton Beddoes Read Quote
Regional currencies will prove the best route to reconciling the economic imperatives of increasing international capital mobility with the political realities of the nation-state. Zanny Minton Beddoes Read Quote
Free-trade enthusiasts fret that regional trade arrangements divert more trade than they create. Zanny Minton Beddoes Read Quote
Although the world has changed dramatically since 1843, we believe that the values that guide ‘The Economist’ are as relevant as ever. Zanny Minton Beddoes Read Quote
