Stiglitz Says Europe Faces ‘Disastrous’ Budget Austerity Drive

Many European countries are pursuing “excessive austerity,” risking a marked slowdown in economic growth, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said.

“There’s this disastrous policy that even in the countries that don’t need to have austerity,” such as the U.K., they “are going for much more excessive austerity than they need,” he said at an investor conference in Moscow today. “We are already seeing around Europe the consequences of this austerity. The clear implication is that growth will be slower.”