Europe's Deadlock: How the Euro Crisis Could Be Solved ― And Why It Won’t Happen - Softcover

"Readers of a nervous economic disposition should not be alarmed: this beginner's guide to the euro crisis and what to do about it benefits from brevity and the comfort of grand, confident statements. Marsh's book is a pretty pitiless analysis of a crisis that cannot be permitted to become a disaster."-Iain Finlayson, The Times -- Iain Finlayson * The Times * "Marsh lays out a number of options in this neat and concise book - all of which are being `blocked by indecision and incompetence at the top'."-Philip Mauhan, New Statesman -- Philip Mauhan * New Statesman * "David Marsh's short book is a more sceptical take on the euro crisis. A seasoned Bundesbank-watcher and historian of the euro, he has long argued, as did the Bundesbank, that the single currency cannot work without fiscal and political union."-The Economist * The Economist * "Marsh is an expert chronicler of European monetary union, and his analysis deserves serious consideration."-George Soros -- George Soros "A concise and devastating analysis. . . . A must-read for all in the world of finance."-Lord (Meghnad) Desai, Emeritus Professor of Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science -- Lord (Meghnad) Desai "His latest book, Europe's Deadlock, makes a hard-hitting case against `muddled thinking, lack of imagination and straightforward incompetence on the part of the politicians and technocrats charged with policing the single currency'."-Ferdinando Giugliano, Financial Times -- Ferdinando Giugliano * Financial Times *

This short, fiercely argued book explains how five years of continuous crisis management not only have failed to resolve the Eurozone's problems but have actually made things worse. While austerity-wracked nations descend into misery and resentment, creditor countries fear that they will be forced to subsidize their weaker brethren indefinitely. Constructive dialogue has collapsed as European decisionmaking descends into terrified paralysis, and the potential paths out of the impasse are blocked by indecision and incompetence at the top. As voters in Greece and Italy rebel against externally imposed hardship, and the sums needed to bail out failed economies reach ever more staggering proportions, the contradictions at the heart of the European project are becoming more and more obvious. Marsh warns that the current succession of complex technical fixes cannot sustain the Eurozone on life support indefinitely. Radical solutions are on offer, but without leaders who are strong and principled enough to push them through, Europe risks a depressing future of permanent decline.