Hodgepodge

Can you say Chutzpah?

Let’s just say for example you study very hard an earned a PhD. in economics at a “top” institution. And let’s say, given that you had tenure and time to consider pie in the sky stuff, as opposed to being worried about paying your mortgage next month, you develop a very nice theory about how to create a common currency. The problem is, the particular zone you have in mind for this economic experiment is not fertile ground for a common currency, given diverse political and business cycle/productivity levels among the different members your theory cobbles together. Add to that, likely poundfor- pound the smartest economist who has ever lived—Milton Friedman—tells you this is a bad idea precisely because it is not fertile ground for a common currency. No matter.