organization:center for economic

Report Finds US Sanctions on Venezuela Are Responsible for Tens of Thousands of Deaths
▻http://cepr.net/press-center/press-releases/report-finds-us-sanctions-on-venezuela-are-responsible-for-tens-of-thousands-o

A new paper from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), by economists Mark Weisbrot and Jeffrey Sachs, finds that economic sanctions implemented by the Trump administration since August 2017 have caused tens of thousands of deaths and are rapidly worsening the humanitarian crisis.

“The sanctions are depriving Venezuelans of lifesaving medicines, medical equipment, food, and other essential imports,” said Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director of CEPR and coauthor of the report. “This is illegal under US and international law, and treaties that the US has signed. Congress should move to stop it.”

Economic Sanctions as Collective Punishment: The Case of Venezuela | Reports | CEPR
►http://cepr.net/publications/reports/economic-sanctions-as-collective-punishment-the-case-of-venezuela

The sanctions reduced the public’s caloric intake, increased disease and mortality (for both adults and infants), and displaced millions of Venezuelans who fled the country as a result of the worsening economic depression and hyperinflation. They exacerbated Venezuela’s economic crisis and made it nearly impossible to stabilize the economy, contributing further to excess deaths. All of these impacts disproportionately harmed the poorest and most vulnerable Venezuelans.

[…]

We find that the sanctions have inflicted, and increasingly inflict, very serious harm to human life and health, including an estimated more than 40,000 deaths from 2017 to 2018; and that these sanctions would fit the definition of collective punishment of the civilian population as described in both the Geneva and Hague international conventions, to which the US is a signatory. They are also illegal under international law and treaties that the US has signed, and would appear to violate US law as well.

La lecture du rapport vaut le coup:
▻http://cepr.net/images/stories/reports/venezuela-sanctions-2019-04.pdf

Who Could Have Imagined that Government Granted Patent Monopolies on Drugs Like OxyContin Could Lead to Abuses ? | Beat the Press | Blogs | Publications | The Center for Economic and Policy Research
▻http://cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/who-could-have-imagined-that-government-granted-patent-monopolies-on-drugs-lik

Si le système d’exclusivité existant aux #Etats-Unis permet de fixer des #prix faramineux, comment peut-on penser sérieusement que le vendeur ne va pas #mentir (quant à l’efficacité et l’innocuité de son #médicament, aussi #mortel qu’il puisse être) pour vendre le plus possible ?

Every student who has taken an Econ 101 class knows how a 20 percent tariff leads to #corruption. So, why is anyone in the world surprised that the patent monopoly the government gave to Purdue Pharma on OxyContin lead the company to ignore evidence that the drug was being misused?

Hey folks, people respond to incentives. If we give them a patent monopoly that allows them to sell a drug at a price that is several thousand percent above its free market price, then drug companies will try to push the drug as widely as possible. This means ignoring evidence that the drug might be less effective than claimed or even harmful.

Come on, every serious person must understand this fact. Is it really necessary to pretend we are surprised?

#opioides #opiacés #big_pharma

Greece and Puerto Rico | Beat the Press | Blogs | Publications | The Center for Economic and Policy Research
▻http://www.cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/greece-and-puerto-rico

Since several commentators have raised questions about the similarities between the debt situations of Greece and Puerto Rico, it is worth pointing out some important ways in which they differ. Puerto Rico gets the benefit of several important federal government programs which will continue regardless of the finances of its own government. This means that if its own government ceases to exist due to financial paralysis, the people of Puerto Rico can still count on their monthly Social Security checks, their Medicare payments for their health care, and food stamps for low income families. The people of Greece do not receive any comparable benefit from the European Union.

7 questions about Greece’s huge crisis - The Washington Post
▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/06/30/7-questions-about-greeces-huge-crisis-you-were-too-embarrassed-to-as

Who Uses the Euro | Beat the Press | Blogs | Publications | The Center for Economic and Policy Research
▻http://www.cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/who-uses-the-euro

The Washington Post ran a map showing which countries in Europe use the euro and which use other currencies. The map is wrong. It shows Montenegro and Kosovo as using currencies other than the euro. This is not accurate, both countries do use the euro as their official currency although they have not have been accepted into the euro zone.

This is important in the context of the discussions on Greece because it illustrates the point that Greece cannot be forced off the euro. The European Commission and the European Central Bank can impose incredibly onerous conditions on Greece, but they cannot prevent the country from using the euro if it so chooses. The decision to leave the euro could only be made by the Greek government, not its creditors.

Greece and the Euro | Beat the Press | Blogs | Publications | The Center for Economic and Policy Research
▻http://www.cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/greece-and-the-euro

http://www.cepr.net/images/argentina-2fredgraph.png

In making comparisons between Greece and Argentina, it is also worth noting that almost all economists projected disaster at the time Argentina defaulted in 2001. Perhaps they have learned more about economics in the last 14 years, but this is not obviously true.

Addendum

I should have also mentioned that the pre-default decline has been much sharper in Greece than in Argentina, over 25 percent in Greece, compared to less than 10.0 percent in Argentina. This should mean that Greece has much more room to bounce back if it regains control over its fiscal and monetary policy.

Who’s Afraid of #Grexit? | Beat the Press | Blogs | Publications | The Center for Economic and Policy Research
▻http://www.cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/who-s-afraid-of-grexit

The NYT finished a piece on the status of negotiations on Greece’s debt with the comment:

“The bigger fear is that a Greek default could force the country eventually to be the first to leave the 19-nation euro currency union and threaten the regional integrity of the broader European Union.”

It would have been helpful to tell readers who has these fears. After all, the current policies being imposed by the European Central Bank and the EU have cost the region millions of jobs and trillions of euros in lost output and threaten a whole generation’s economic future. It is hard to see why anyone would fear the possibility that these policies may be reversed.

Les banquiers de la banque centrale européenne sont des cancres incompétents. Ils sont heureusement rééduqués...

Protest Movements Teach Economics to Bankers

►http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/the-world-economic-crisis/general-analysis-2/50549-protest-movements-teach-economics-to-bankers-.html?itemid=id#130

Protest Movements Teach Economics to Bankers
( World Economic Crisis)

In this Op-Ed piece, Dean Baker, co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), criticizes the European Central Bank’s (ECB) fixation on maintaining low levels of inflation. According to Baker, the ECB’s anti-inflationary measures exacerbate the problems that countries, such as Portugal and Greece, are currently facing, by making it harder for them to service their debt and tackle high levels of unemployment. The author argues that Southern Europe’s popular movements should use their newly gained political leverage to “teach the ECB crew some basic economics” while pushing them to adopt alternative measures that allow for fairer, less painful and yet economically sound reforms.

#finance #crisefinancière #banques #economie