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FT.com | Willem Buiter's Maverecon | Could the UK face a sterling crisis, or are we in one already?
...there is nothing that cannot be explained as a (long overdue) correction of a persistent overvaluation of sterling - a misalignment that has biased the economic playing field against industries, both exporting and import competing, that would have had a fairer crack of the whip at a more reasonable exchange rate.

One interpretation of the drivers of this persistent overvaluation would be a Dutch disease story, where the role of the natural resource sector in the standard version of the Dutch disease is taking by the UK banking sector.  In this interpretation, a long financial industry bubble in the UK has driven up the real exchange rate in the whole economy and crowded out other sectors producing internationally tradable commodities.  The recent sharp depreciation of sterling corrects this long-standing anomaly.


Emphasis mine.

"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
by Melanchthon on Thu Dec 11th, 2008 at 05:22:44 PM EST
LTE?

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Thu Dec 11th, 2008 at 05:29:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Jerome should have Munchau eat his dismissive words on the Anglo Disease concept.

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Dec 11th, 2008 at 05:44:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I mean Martin Wolf, not Munchau.

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Dec 11th, 2008 at 05:46:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
See the discussion started by afew here

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Fri Dec 12th, 2008 at 03:53:23 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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