Krugman Says Greek-Like Crisis Could Not Occur in U.S.

The U.S. and the U.K. are immune from the kind of debt turmoil that engulfed five euro-area countries because they’re not part of a monetary union and borrow in their own currency, Nobel laureate Paul Krugman said.

“Fear of a Greek-style fiscal and financial crisis has loomed over much of our policy discourse over the past four years, and has played a significant role in shaping actual policy, constituting the principal argument for austerity in countries that don’t face any current difficulties in borrowing,” Krugman wrote in a paper he will present at an International Monetary Fund conference in Washington tomorrow.