EuroTragedy, Ashoka Mody
EuroTragedy, Ashoka Mody
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EuroTragedy
A Drama in Nine Acts

Author: Ashoka Mody

Narrator: Liam Gerrard

Unabridged: 22 hr 12 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/20/2019

Synopsis

Blending economic analysis with political drama, EuroTragedy is a groundbreaking account of the euro's history and tragic consequences. In this vivid and compelling chronicle, Ashoka Mody describes how the euro improbably emerged through a narrow historical window as a flawed compromise wrapped in a false pro-European rhetoric of peace and unity. Drawing on his frontline experience as an official with the IMF, Mody situates the tragedy in a fast-paced global context and guides the listener through the forced—and unforced—errors Eurozone authorities committed during their long financial crisis. The decision to switch from national currencies to the euro unfolded as both economic and political tragedy. It weakened the growth potential of member states, which made financially vulnerable Europeans more anxious. It deepened perceptions of unfairness and widened the division between nations. Now, the burden falls on younger Europeans, a generation with a discouragingly bleak future. A compassionate view of European possibilities, EuroTragedy makes clear that the euro's structural flaws will continue to haunt the continent. Instead of centralizing authority to prop up an ossified pro-Europeanist model, it is time to loosen ties that bind too tightly so that a liberal order can once more flourish.

About Ashoka Mody

Ashoka Mody is Charles and Marie Robertson Visiting Professor in International Economic Policy at the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University. Previously, he was Deputy Director in the International Monetary Fund's Research and European Departments. He has also worked at the World Bank, University of Pennsylvania, and AT&T's Bell Laboratories. Mody has advised governments worldwide on developmental and financial projects and policies, while writing extensively for policy and scholarly audiences.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jökull on July 16, 2018

EuroTragedy traces the origin of the Euro from the postwar years up to today’s Brexit and populist political undercurrent. It explains how the Euro became a political project with terrible economic basis, an experiment in unifying countries around a currency with the hope that political union to gua......more

Goodreads review by PAULETTE on October 20, 2018

Ashoka Mody's book is a gripping read and hard to put down - which is quite an accomplishment for a book on the economics of the euro! I have only ever had one class in economics, but in this book, complex issues are explained so simply and clearly that even a layperson like myself could follow the......more

Goodreads review by Sam on August 21, 2018

I was initially skeptical about this book, as I have already read several good histories of the Eurocrisis and wasn't sure what this book could add. However, I found Eurotragedy to be a solid read and, actually, a very good history of the euro as an idea. I think it is this historical, narrative app......more

Goodreads review by Benji on December 04, 2018

We need less Europe, stop building a fragile financial superstructure for the single currency - and, indeed, we need to unwind some of that superstructure. We need more Europe, to advance the European common market, especially to create technical and pricing standards for digital networks and to share......more

Goodreads review by Nzcgzmt on August 26, 2019

This is an incredibly engaging book despite the complexity of the themes that it dealt with. Ashoka Mody is a visiting professor at Princeton and was formerly an Assistant Director at IMF’s European Department. Mody’s key contentions include: 1) A monetary union without a fiscal union will only magn......more

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