Tuesday, July 6, 2010

The High Cost of Being a Euro Contrarian

The SpiegelOnline International has published in its June 30 edition the story of the four German economists who tried to stop the introduction of the euro with a legal challenge in Germany’s highest court in 1998. Now, 12 years later, they are fighting against a German bailout for Greece – and this time around, people are listening to them.

In the meanwhile their war on the euro entailed a high personal and professional cost. After their 1998 initiative nothing was the same again.

“Suddenly they stopped getting invited to conferences. Newspapers were reluctant to print their opinion pieces. Political allies distanced themselves from the four men. ‘We were the Antichrists,’ says Hankel, describing the mood at the time.”

“For 10 years I was practically barred from writing articles,” Hankel complains. He was so marginal that only right-wing publications like the controversial weekly magazine Junge Freiheit would publish his writing, a circumstance he characterizes today as an act of self-defense.

Read the article here .


Hat tip: Tyler Cowen

No comments: