4.2% Unemployment

[Brad De Long]

>>>
>I'm curious about the feeling among the social democratic left in Europe
>about deregulation. As you say, the low unemployment rate here is a
>powerful bludgeon against the European social welfare systems. But there
>is a quite convincing argument that the problem in Europe has more to do
>with the monetary and fiscal policies demanded by Maastricht (and with
>the behavior of the Bundesbank in the '80's) than with "inflexible"
>labor markets and the like. At the very least, a reflationary
>macroeconomic program should be tried before the Europeans junk a quite
>successful system. . . . >>
>
>I'm curious about this too.  We'd been telling Europeans to go after
>the Bundesbank (and now the ECB) for some time and it's only been
>relatively recently that there is some receptivity.  Many of them,
>smelling political success, are tempted by Clintonism (tight money,
>low deficits, and lots of blather about human capital and the
>"information age.")...
>
>mbs

No! No!

We are supposed to be low deficits, *loose* money (as long as Uncle Alan
feels like cooperating--may that be long), lots of wonderful electronic
toys, and a serious (OK, semi-serious) push to increase educational
attainment...

Brad DeLong

P.S.: You forgot to mention open worldwide markets, and leveraging the
skills of symbolic analysts in office towers over a base of millions of
manufacturing workers in emerging industrial economies...

P.P.S.: You also forgot to mention the part about how poor children of
single parents need to be made poorer while they grow up...