Eurozone 101

This morning’s blogpile brought wise words from Jeffry Frieden about the Eurozone crisis.  If you haven’t read it, follow this link straightaway.  Even if you think you already know the whole story, his clarity and ability to get to the heart of the matter is a breath of fresh air.  Naturally, I like his Keynesian take on the credit relationship:

For two years, Europe’s governments have been grappling with how to address this continuing debt crisis. But most of the public discussions have been highly misleading. In Northern Europe, and especially Germany, the tone has been one of outraged indignation. This high moral tone is misplaced. Certainly many Southern European banks and households, and the Greek government, borrowed irresponsibly; but German and other Northern European banks and investors lent just as irresponsibly. It’s not clear that there’s any real ethical distance between irresponsible borrowers and irresponsible lenders.