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Sunday, March 17, 2013

'The Cypriot Haircut'

Next week could be fun for economists in search of natural experiments -- will there be a large bank run? -- but not so fun for Europeans:

The Cypriot Haircut, by Paul Krugman: ... With all the problems in Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal I wasn’t watching Cyprus. But that’s where the big euro news is this weekend; in return for a bailout, Cyprus is supposed to impose a large haircut — that is, loss — on all depositors in its banks.
You can sort of see why they’re doing this: Cyprus is a money haven, especially for the assets of Russian beeznessmen; this means that it has a hugely oversized banking sector (think Iceland) and that a haircut-free bailout would be seen as a bailout, not just of Cyprus, but of Russians of, let’s say, uncertain probity and moral character. ...
The big problem, however, is that it’s not just large foreign deposits that are taking a haircut; the haircut on small domestic deposits is a bit smaller, but still substantial. It’s as if the Europeans are holding up a neon sign, written in Greek and Italian, saying “time to stage a run on your banks!”
Tomorrow and the days immediately following should be very interesting.

Update:

    Posted by on Sunday, March 17, 2013 at 11:37 AM in Economics, Financial System, International Finance | Permalink  Comments (52)


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