Budget Austerity in the E.U.: Turning the Russian Invasion of Ukraine into an Advantage

With economic growth in the E.U. flat-lining in mid-2014 after a modest recovery, pressure mounted to relax the federal "austerity" constraints on the state budgets. According to The New York Times at the time, "(p)olitical and financial instability related to Russia's confrontation with Ukraine and the effects of escalating economic sanctions between [the E.U.] and Russia have further clouded the economic outlook."[1] Mired in the austerity vs. fiscal stimulus dichotomy, E.U. leaders may have been missing an opportunity here.

With yet another round of sanctions in the works on the heels of a recent Russian invasion and unemployment at a stubborn 11.5 percent, and the threat of runaway deflation hitting wages in particular, the E.U.'s economy looked poised for an ongoing onslaught of stag-deflation. The E.U. "is menaced by long and possibly interminable stagnation if we don't act," Francois Hollande of the state of France warned.[2]  He had in mind some movement along the ongoing relaxation vs. austerity dichotomy in the direction of larger state deficits--something the governor over in Germany was still fiercely resisting. We "really must question whether we can go on receiving less than we spend, so that our debts keep on growing. Indeed," Angela Merkel pointed out, "a whole crisis of confidence has grown out of that."[3] Such a basic imbalance in state finance undercuts the equilibrium that is so vital to the survival of the macro system in the long run.

So, it would appear that the well-worn dichotomy had reached a dead-end, or the proverbial brick wall. I contend that in such a case thinking beyond the either/or strictures is advisable. To illustrate my point, I present a thought-experiment of sorts (i.e., unrealistic, but it gets the point across).

Let's imagine that the president of Ukraine met with the European Council as Russian troops were crossing the border into Ukraine with the eventual aim of separating the eastern half of the independent state from Kiev.

"I come before you with an admittedly unorthodox suggestion," President Poroshenko might have told the Council. "Without a massive infusion of support from the E.U., my country will split apart and Russia will gain the eastern half."

"What kind of support do you have in mind," the Council's Van Rompuy might has asked.

"Well, the sort that would make your fast-track accession process look like a snail's pace," Ukraine's head of state might have replied with a curious grin that told of something very new coming. "Make Ukraine a state; my government will accept all of your conditions without reservation. Send in your Commission's bureaucrats right away to implement the conditions. To protect them, I recommend that you send along military troops from your state militias as well as the small federal army you have. We could even request that U.N. peace-keepers come along. Putin is already in hot water at the U.N. for continuing his KGB tactics as president."

"What if he keeps sending in Russian troops?" Merkel might have asked.

"This is why speed would be so vital, both in Ukraine's accession, which could be of a limited term if that is easier for you, and the influx of bureaucrats and others doing the E.U.'s business and protecting them. Ukraine would agree to the Schengen Agreement on open borders, and I would request that the E.U. attend immediately to the external border--meaning that which we share with Russia. Securing that border has precedent for the E.U., does it not?" In fact, the need to protect the E.U. bureaucrats pouring into the eastern parts of Ukraine with troops from the state armies would mean that NATO would be relevant. This point, if made explicit, could deter Putin from sending in still more military hardware and troops.

"Please excuse us as we discuss this proposal," Van Rompuy might have politely yet curtly told the Ukrainian head of state. After all, the E.U. leaders do their best work behind closed doors. The point is that their minds need not be closed either. Lemons can indeed be made into lemonade.

Even if this scenario is too outlandish to be taken seriously in a world so wetted to the status quo as its default, thinking in such terms "outside the box" could stimulate more realistic policy prescriptions going beyond the austerity vs. fiscal stimulus dichotomy. For example, the notion of troops and hardware from state militias in the E.U. going along to protect federal bureaucrats might prompt an E.U. leader to suggest that the state armies transfer even more to the small federal army of 60,000 troops. Doing so would enable the state budgets to accommodate both more fiscal stimulus and lower deficits as less military spending would be needed. I am assuming the E.U. would pick up the tab for the operation of the added hardware and the salaries of the additional troops. From the perspective of the E.U., the shift would mean less duplication. How likely is it really that Belgium and Portugal, for example, would need to use their respective armies anyway? In the context of continued stag-deflation, such nationalist luxuries are difficult to justify, especially considering the opportunity cost in terms of stimulating the economy.

In short, the E.U. need not have faced a future of stagnation. Ideas hitherto undiscovered can indeed have great value in practical results. The key is to think beyond the confines of what are presumed to be the only possibilities. The human brain has a tendency to shrink the possible in a way that cuts off many potentially fruitful possibilities without any recognition of doing so. The advisable condition of receptivity is to welcome such ideas into the public discourse rather than going with the knee-jerk reaction of "that's too radical!" or "that would never see the light of day." We might be surprised what could see the dawn and beyond.

1. Liz Alderman and Alison Smale, "Divisions Grow as a Downturn Rocks Europe," August 29, 2014.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.

Should the ECB Buy State Bonds and Encourage State Deficits?

In remarks at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, European Central Bank president Mario Draghi urged greater fiscal and monetary coordination to boost the E.U.’s economy. A ship cannot move along at full speed if all the sails are not coordinated so that each is poised at its optimal angle to the prevailing winds. So too, various policies in a political economy must all sail in the same direction for a full-sail recovery to really take off. Just as a sailing ship must avoid jagged pitfalls lurking in rocky waters, so too must policy makers; for it is all too easy in focusing on one point on the horizon to ignore or dismiss baleful downsides to the dominant policies.

At the foot of the Teton Mountains, there being no foothills, Draghi “called for explicit policy co-ordination between the [Eurozone’s] monetary guardian and [the states].”[1] Brandishing considerably less concern on inflation, he linked the ECB’s future purchases of state bonds (i.e., quantitative easing, or QE) to structural reforms, tax cuts, and more spending at the state level. 

At the time, E.U. law limited state budget deficits to 3% of gross domestic product. Pointing to the existing flexibility in that law, the central banker urged the state governors to “better address the weak recovery and to make room for the cost of needed structural reforms.”[2] I submit that the accent should be placed on the latter, as they would have more staying power. It is like the difference between consuming sugar (even in fruit) before running, and drinking a protein shake after lifting weights; both food elements are helpful, but only the protein becomes a part the body and can thus strengthen it for the future.

Quantitative easing can unfortunately impact an economy in both foreseen and unforeseen ways due to the intended artificially-low interest rates. The market-mechanism cannot but be distorted, with harsh byproducts free to silently ravage certain segments while others benefit without merit. The human brain is not so omniscient as to be able to fully anticipate and plug all the leaks that can arise from a systemic distortion in a macro-economy. That is to say, the system is so complex that a huge distortion using one macro policy tool can introduce significant systemic risk.

In the U.S., for example, low rates in the 1990s incentivized a housing bubble whose collapse in 2007 triggered the potentially catastrophic credit freeze and collapse of Lehman Brothers in September of 2008. The government bailout of GM, AIG, and Wall Street banks worsened the federal public debt. By 2014, that debt reached over $17 trillion. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve printed money far exceeding the meager growth of GDP by buying bonds to artificially lower interest rates to prompt a recovery.

With interest rates low, money flooded into stocks. “The market is in effect rigged because of the [low] interest rate,” Charles Biderman said on CNBC as the summer of 2014 was coming to an end.[3] A grinding ethical fault-line ran between the stocks increasing at 25% a year and the wages and salaries increasing at a mere 3 percent. Moreover, the middle and lower economic classes would doubtless feel the brunt of a collapse of the stock market due to irrational fear should rates be raised to counter the inflation from too many dollars chasing too few goods.

With borrowing money being so cheap at the low rates, government officials did not feel the normal market pressure to hem in the deficits. Corporate managements could borrow money cheaply to acquire or merge with other companies without being perhaps as discerning of the degree of compatibility and synergy as would be the case under naturally determined interest rates. In 2014 through August, more than $2 trillion in mergers and acquisitions were announced—an increase of 70 percent over the same period the year before.[4] While managers, stockholders, and lawyers make out like bandits on the deals, subordinate employees are left out of the largess and may even lose their jobs as the price of synergy.

As dark as the underside of quantitative easing is in pushing rates abnormally low, the most potentially harmful byproduct of Draghi’s plan concerns his intent to encourage the E.U.’s state governments to make greater use of the “existing flexibility” already in the federal law limiting state budget deficits to 3% of annual economic output. Even large states such as France and Germany had had trouble keeping within the law; states such as Greece, Spain, and even Italy carried so much debt that the systemic risk of default became a problem not just for the E.U., but for the global financial system as well. To encourage flexibility might be like giving money to an alcoholic standing outside a liquor store. The last thing state legislators need to hear is additional flexibility to tax less and spend more can be found in the fine print.

As an alternative, Draghi could have emphasized that the ECB would focus on assisting states with structural reforms both by lending its expertise and finding the right monetary incentives that would not distort the financial market in potentially unforeseen ways. Sticking to old ways is not necessarily the best route to getting structural changes capable of ushering in new ways.

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1. Claire Jones, Peter Spiegel, and Robin Harding, “Draghi Softens Tone on Austerity,” The Financial Times, August 22, 2014.

2. Ibid.

3. Charles Biderman, CNBC TV, August 28, 2104.

4. Trish Regan, “Has Fed Jumped the Shark?” USA Today, August 26, 2014.