Regional Studies: European Union 
Recommended
Old Stealing from Young under Obama's 'Reforms'
Cato's Gene Healy likens American youth to the rioting masses of French youth who are decrying marginal austerity attempts, protecting their parents’ and grandparents' generations over their own interests. With both countries facing burgeoning public debt, youth are energetic about advocating big government provisioning programs (e.g. pensions and universal healthcare), which they will be forced to support but will never receive. Healy asks, humorously, “Are America's youth as dumb as the French?” He notes that while American youth seem less prone to riot in the streets than their French counterparts, they are widely unimpassioned about politics -- leading one to wonder which is better, active though misplaced engagement or apathetic acquiescence? Either way, substantive change cannot occur until “younger voters wise up and start defending their interests.”
Greece: The Canary in the U.S. Coal Mine?
Writing in the July/August edition of The Freeman, Professor Steven Horwitz clearly describes what is going on in the world economy of deficits, debt, and big government spending –- and does so in a way that doesn’t require a degree in economics. He explains the process by which a country goes bankrupt through bad economic policy and democratic politics, describing in detail what happened to Greece and how the U.S. may be facing a similar situation in the near future. Horwitz draws the analogy that, “Like a canary in a coal mine, the crisis in Greece should serve as a warning that polluting the fiscal air with large budget deficits, a growing public sector, and high debt-to-GDP ratios is a sure way to kill an economy.”
When Will Europe Collapse?
In a new Cato Institute paper, Václav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic, examines the eurozone's contribution to slowed economic growth in Europe and predicts the costs of maintaining the European monetary union. The creation of the eurozone was presented as an economic benefit to all the countries willing to give up their own currencies. Studies promised that the euro would accelerate economic growth and reduce inflation. Also, the studies stressed that the member states of the eurozone would be protected against all kinds of unfavorable economic disruptions and exogenous shocks. It is clear that nothing of that sort has happened.
The Greecing of America, Simplified
Greece is imploding. Under its high burden of public debt, deficit spending (i.e. borrowing), pensions plans and low economic output, the Greek economy can no longer stay financially afloat. Unfortunately, the U.S. resembles Greece a lot more than many Washington politicians would like us to think.
Swedish Myths and Realities
"Johan Norberg, author of In Defense of Global Capitalism, sits down with reason.tv's Michael C. Moynihan to sort out the myths of the Sweden's welfare state, health services, tax rates, and its status as the 'most successful society the world has ever known.'"
The Biofuel Brew Ha-Ha
By Peter Suderman: Reason contributor Peter Suderman writes that the biofuels craze is boosting the price of beer, because farmers are shifting away from barley to biofuel crops made more lucrative by mandates and subsidies.
Letter to Our European Friends
By P.J. O'Rourke: "America is in the midst of an all-important electoral campaign. But, talking to Europeans, I've discovered that there is puzzlement and misinformation on your continent about what's happening on ours. Europeans feel an understandable confusion when faced with a political system consisting of two houses of Congress and a White House, and nobody is home in any of them."
A Bill of Rights Europe Did Not Need
By Anthony de Jasay: "Even if it were less woolly and silly, the Charter of Fundamental Rights could hardly become a force for good."
What Can the United States Learn from the Nordic Model?
By Daniel J. Mitchell: "Conservative critics correctly condemn the large welfare states, but often overlook the positive results generated by laissez-faire policies in other areas. Liberals, meanwhile, exaggerate the economic performance of Nordic nations in an effort to justify welfare-state policies, while failing to acknowledge the role of freemarket policies in other areas."
Stockholm Syndrome
By Michael C. Moynihan: "Western Europe's most famously socialist country is slowly plodding toward free-market reforms."