Joseph E. Stiglitz calls for growth strategies to save euro

The fiscal discipline and stringent economising demanded by Germany and France won't be enough to solve Europe's debt crisis, warns US Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz in the left-liberal daily La Repubblica: "It is fine to blame their southern compatriots for fiscal profligacy, or, in the case of Spain and Ireland, for letting free markets have free reign, without seeing where that would lead. But that doesn't address today's problem: huge debts, whether a result of private or public miscalculations, must be managed within the euro framework. Public-sector cutbacks today do not solve the problem of yesterday's profligacy; they simply push economies into deeper recessions. Europe's leaders know this. They know that growth is needed. But, rather than deal with today's problems and find a formula for growth, they prefer to deliver homilies about what some previous government should have done. This may be satisfying for the sermonizer, but it won't solve Europe's problems - and it won't save the euro."

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