Author Archives: Edward Hugh

About Edward Hugh

Edward 'the bonobo' is a Catalan economist of British extraction. After being born, brought-up and educated in the United Kingdom, Edward subsequently settled in Barcelona where he has now lived for over 15 years. As a consequence Edward considers himself to be "Catalan by adoption". By inclination he is a macro economist, but his obsession with trying to understand the economic impact of demographic changes has often taken him far from home, off and away from the more tranquil and placid pastures of the dismal science, into the bracken and thicket of demography, anthropology, biology, sociology and systems theory. All of which has lead him to ask himself whether Thomas Wolfe was not in fact right when he asserted that the fact of the matter is "you can never go home again".

Estonia’s Long Awaited Recovery May Still Be Delayed Yet Awhile

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In a recent FT Op-ed, entitled “Estonia’s recovery defies economists and academics“, columnist John Dizard argued that “the “internal devaluation” policy, which means cuts in nominal costs such as wages and rents, was very hard on the population, but appears to have worked ahead of even the Estonian government’s schedule”.

But as I said to John in a very enjoyable phone conversation I had with him before he wrote the piece (where he was kind enough to descibe me as a “freelance economist”, one who doesn’t have to answer to a boss before expressing an opinion), perhaps we should just hold on a minute before jumping to too many conclusions, since things are still far from clear. So let’s take a look. Continue reading →

New Series Of Spain Podcasts

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The first in a new cycle of Spain economy related podcasts I am doing with Matthew Bennett is now up.

Here’s a sort of summary from Matthew of what goes on.

The short version: market reaction so far this year has, as always, been irrational, underlying indicators are not in a good place and Spain has no plan to replace the construction industry as the engine of its economic recovery.

* Spain, Greece and the EU bailout package;
* The madness of the markets and rational analysis of underlying factors;
* Is there any basis for the current apparent economic and financial calm?
* Important changes in the role of the ECB and its relationship with sovereign states;
* The impact of cuts announced by Zapatero in June;
* Spanish banks reliance on ECB funding and moral hazard;
* The civil service wage cut announced in June is not really a wage cut;
* Car sales in July were down 30% on June, after the Spanish version of cash-for-clunkers was withdrawn and VAT rose 2%. Is that indicative of what the rest of the economy might look like if we took away government stimulus?
* The effect of the VAT rise on consumer behaviour and the real-estate market;
* Inflation, deflation or stagflation?
* There’s no plan to replace the weight of the construction industry in the make-up of Spanish GDP. Could tourism replace the construction industry in Spain’s GDP?
* Europe and the IMF are not being harsh enough on Spain;
* The Spanish government’s hope of reaching 2.7% GDP growth and 3% deficit targets by 2013 is totally unrealistic;
* The north-south economic divide in the eurozone;
* What happens to Spain when the ECB starts raising interest rates and monthly mortgage payments start rising again?

Chart Of The Day: How Spain’s Stimulus Money Helps Germany Achieve Record Growth

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Well, here’s a nice way of putting things. Spain did less badly than expected in Q2 2010 as compared with a year ago, since in Q2 2009 it actually did worse than it initially appeard (following a downward revision in the data). Well, that’s one way to improve, push the past backwards.

On a more serious note, the detailed data on the second quarter are now available for Spain, and interesting reading they make. Basically, what little improvement Spain did manage to achieve (0.2 q-o-q, -0.1% y-o-y) came from domestic demand and not exports, while the external trade balance deteriorated. Exactly the opposite to what you want to happen.

As the statistics office (INE) say: “On analysing the two large components of Spanish GDP from the perspective of expenditure, a similar pattern of performance could be observed as in the previous quarter. Thus, on the one hand, the negative contribution of domestic demand to GDP decreased two points and three tenths in this quarter, from –2.8 to –0.5 points. Whereas, in contrast, foreign demand decreased its positive contribution to the aggregate growth one point and one tenth, from 1.5 to 0.4 points”.

In other words, all that deficit spending money is simply getting wasted, and there is no competitiveness correction taking place. In the midst of a huge potential export boom, Spain’s economy is growing thanks to domestic demand, as the trade deficit once more deteriorates.

So one very simple way of putting this, so everyone can understand, is that the Spanish government is running a double digit deficit, and one part of the money spent is going straight out in additional imports which (among other places) come from Germany. That is, Spain is getting itself even more into debt to lend a kindly helping hand to the German economy. In theory, the exact opposite was to happen, and the German expansion was supposed to help Spain’s net exports. But Spanish industry isn’t, well you know..

And just to remind us, here are the respective industrial output charts I published in this post.

So when are people at the EU Commission and the IMF going to finally wake up to reality? This isn’t going to work like this, and Spain needs to adopt concrete measures to restore competitiveness, and not find ever more ingenious ways to kick the can even further down the road. Either that, or we will all live to regret our own inaction one of these fine days.

How Many Times Can One Driver Fall Asleep At The Same Wheel (And Live)?

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“Break the thermometer, then you won’t have a fever.” – Former Polish President Lech Walesa

Watching the TV news here is Spain at the moment is often a rather discomforting and sad affair. The normal menu seems to consist of a constant stream of ministers who have to appear before the cameras and the public to explain something that they, in all fairness, don’t really understand themselves. And so it was on Saturday, as I tucked into my early morning breakast of sausage and beans (Catalan style) in the village near my mountain retreat, there in the background I could see the face of Spain’s Labour Minister Celestino Corbacho (photo above), giving details to the assembled press corps of the latest government decision to make another six month extension for the 426 euro monthly “exceptional” payment for those whose unemployment benefits have run out. Why there are so many unemployed in Spain, and why renewing this subsidy is now an almost permanent necessity (this is now the third time that this “temporary” means of support has been extended), or what the real prospects of creating enough jobs to start reducing the unemployment mountain any time in the foreseeable future, was not explained. Well, the future is not ours to see, so “que sera, sera”.

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The Shape of Bulgarian Things to Come

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As the IMF say in their most recent staff report on the country, the aftermath of the recent severe economic crisis leaves us with the question as to whether potential output growth in Bulgaria in the years to come is going to be markedly lower than it was during the boom years. As the IMF point out, the current recession was preceded by an investment boom in construction, real estate and the associated financial sectors. Now that the boom (which was always unsustainable, Bulgaria’s current account deficit in 2007 hit almost 27% of GDP) is well and truly over in these sectors, the strong associated decline in investment could have large negative effects on output. Moreover, it will take considerable time before the excess labor and resources that are no longer needed in these sectors can be absorbed by other sectors, which suggests that the rate of unemployment may rise yet further and remain higher for some considerable time. Not a uniquely Bulgarian story, but none the less important for that.

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Controlling The Uncontrollable: Spain’s National Addiction To The Use Of “Dinero B”

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Well, before we go any further, I would like to make clear that what I am going to talk about in this post is not anything illegal, or even irregular (things like this must be going on in almost all Euro Area countries even as I write). Bending of the rules? Perhaps. Taking them to their limit? Certainly. Continue reading →

One Chart To Rule Them All, One Chart To Find Them (Out)

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Look, if there is one simple chart which sums up everything that is wrong with current thinking at the International Monetary Fund, then it is this one.

Basically, I spent much of the day yesterday scratching my head, trying to work out how the hell the IMF could be forecasting Spanish GDP growth of 1.7% in 2012, of 1.9% in both 2013 and 2014 and 1.8% in 2015. And now it has dawned on me how and why they can. Quite simply they are forecasting current account deficits for Spain of 5.3% of GDP in 2010, 5.1% in 2011, 5.0% in 2012, 5.0 in 2013, 5.0% in 2014%, and 5.0% again in 2015. In other words, the assumption is that nothing fundamental is going to change in the post 2008 world, when compared with the years that preceded it. And this is clear when you come to look at the whole structure of current account balances revealed in the chart above, which are based on the IMF forcasts through 2015 as set out in the April 2010 World Economic Outlook. It is a case of plus ça change. Continue reading →

Too Soon To Cry Victory?

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Confidence Has Returned To Europe’s Financial Markets, But Lasting Economic Growth May Not Be So Easy To Achieve

ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet was in rather optimistic, one might even say jovial, mood at the press conference which followed this week’s central bank rate-setting meeting. Second-quarter GDP growth in the 16-nation euro zone would prove “really exceptional,” he stated, while the July bank stress tests marked “an important step forward in restoring market confidence.”

And it wasn’t only that pre-holiday bonhomie – as Ralph Atkins also reports M. Trichet was about to head off for some well earned rest in the Brittany seaport of Saint-Malo – which was lifting M. Trichet’s spirits, recent data – especially from France and Germany – has been reasonably encouraging. Indeed, M. Trichet’s comments came just hours after Germany reported a stronger-than-expected 3.2 per cent rise in industrial orders in June, which came hot on the heels of some pretty strong PMI readings and a further rise in confidence among those living in the Euro Area about the immediate economic outlook, which hit its highest level in more than two years in July according to the EU economic sentiment indicator. Nevertheless, as the EU Commission itself points out, a substantial part of the most recent improvement is due to the improved mood in Germany.

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Just What Is The Economist Up To In It’s Seeming Crusade Against Catalunya?

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Well, this is certainly not the first time I have had cause to complain about the quality of the journalism and economic reporting served up over at the Economist, and I’m damn sure it won’t be the last. But this latest example of shoddy (I would almost even go so far as to use the word “gutter”) journalism certainly takes the biscuit. Catalunya, the august magazine informs its readers is the “Land of the Ban” – “First the burqa, now the bullfight. What will Catalonia outlaw next?” Evidently the author of the article is entitled to his opinion, but could it be that the long-standing practice of incorporating unsigned opinion pieces may now have lost its earlier justification, and may it not somehow have inadvertently converted itself into a rather cowardly way of expressing otherwise hard to justify opinions behind the safe shield of anonymity. Or would our author really like to show us that valour is, at least in this case, the better part of discretion, and enter the arena in persona in order to face the wrath of the Catalan bull?

“The bullfight is not a sport in the Anglo-Saxon sense of the word,” wrote Hemingway in his classic treatise Death in the Afternoon, “that is, it is not an equal contest, or an attempt at an equal contest between a bull and a man. Rather, it is a tragedy; the death of the bull, which is played, more or less well, by the bull and the man involved, and in which there is danger for the man, but certain death for the animal.”

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Do The Latest European Bank Lending Numbers Reveal A Major Headache Looming For The ECB?

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According to Ralph Atkins, writing in the Financial Times:

“Eurozone mortgage borrowing grew last month at the fastest pace in almost two years in a sign that bank lending across the 16-country region may be flickering back to life. Lending for house purchases rose at an annual rate of 3.4 per cent in June – the fastest since September 2008, according to European Central Bank data published on Tuesday. The acceleration pointed to a revival in consumer confidence and an increased willingness by banks to fuel the economic recovery with loans to the private sector.”

So is this really the good news it seems to be? Well the answer is (as usual) yes and no. The problem is that behind the positive aggregate data lie the individual national details (you know, the place where the devil is usually to be found), and when we dig down to this level, then we find the position is much more complicated than it seems. Nor should this surprise us, since if a one size fits all interest rate policy didn’t work in the pre 2008 world (just look what happened to Spain and Ireland for heavens sake), is there any good reason to assume that it will in a post 2010 one? Continue reading →