"The 'PIIGS,' Baltics, and Hungary: Economic Crisis on the EU’s Internal Periphery"

This panel investigates how the recent economic crisis on the European Union's internal periphery arose, and what the implications are for the EU and the global economy. Mark Weisbrot will focus on the 'PIIGS, Jeffrey Sommers will inspect the case of Latvia, and Salvatore DiMauro's analysis centers on Hungary. The panel will situate the crisis into David Harvey's analysis of a 'spatial fix' these areas played in resolving the long economic crisis that emerged with the collapse of Bretton Woods. It will also be informed by ideas originally expressed by Michael Hudson and the late Andre Gunder Frank and Peter Gowan expressed detailing the necessity for this periphery to absorb West Europe's manufacturing surplus at a time of Maastricht induced fiscal and monetary restraint was imposed to launch the euro as an alternative reserve currency to the dollar.

Sponsoring journal:

Left Business Observer

Panel Chair Name:

Doug Henwood

Left Business Observer, Editor The Nation, Contributing Editor

Doug Henwood is editor and publisher of Left Business Observer. He published _Wall Street_ with Verso, and _After the New Economy_ with the New Press. He is currently working on his new book about America's ruling class.

First Panelist:

Jeffrey Sommers

Stockholm School of Economics in Riga (Faculty and Curator of the Andre Gunder Frank Memorial Library)

Dr. Jeffrey Sommers is visiting faculty at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga. He is creator and curator of the Andre Gunder Frank Memorial Library at the school. His research centers on economic history, global studies, global governance, and hegemonic transitions. Recent empirical studies have been on Baltic labor migration from new EU Member States in the context of European integration. Dr. Sommers divides is primarily based in the US, but has several years experience in the Baltics on Fulbright and other grants.

Second Panelist:

Mark Weisbrot

Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research

Dr. Mark Weisbrot is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in Washington, D.C. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan. He has written numerous research papers on economic policy, especially on Latin America and international economic policy. He is also co-author, with Dean Baker, of Social Security: The Phony Crisis (University of Chicago Press, 2000)

Third Panelist:

Salvatore DiMauro

Assistant Professor, Geography, SUNY New Paltz
Co-Editor, Human Geography

Dr. Salvatore DiMauro is Assistant Professor of Geography at SUNY New Paltz. He has several notable publications, including his edited volume The European’s Burden: Global Imperialism in EU expansion (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2006). He researches political economy, world-systems theory, and European imperialisms.