Olivier Blanchard on the European economies

His very good point does not receive enough attention:

“I thought that the zero interest rate, the decrease in the price of oil, the depreciation of the euro, the pause in fiscal consolidation, would help more than they have”, he said.

Perhaps we should consider the possibility that many of the European economies are at margins where “one offs” just don’t help very much.  That is perhaps easiest to rationalize in a multiple equilibria model where investors are waiting for signs that the European economies are truly committed to growth, but not finding so many such signs.  And this:

But Mr Blanchard, who departed the IMF two weeks ago, said radical visions for a full-blown “fiscal union” would not solve fundamental tensions at the heart of the euro.

“[Fiscal union] is not a panacea”, Mr Blanchard told The Telegraph. “It should be done, but we should not think once it is done, the euro will work perfectly, and things will be forever fine.”

The article is here.  Today is Nobel day! (later)