Spain, as those 1990s tourist brochures used to tell us, is different. And it certainly shouldn't be confused with Greece. Even a cursory look at the most basic of maps should satisfy any doubts we might be harbouring in that regard. But being different is not the same thing as being economically sound. Which is what Societe Generale's Klaus Baader has just tried to argue in a recent research note: "The Spanish bond market was hit hard in the wake of the quantum leap in the Greece crisis. But fundamentally the case for Spain remains strong".

For this week’s blog entry I want to go a little abstract in order to suggest how different countries that participate in the global imbalances are going to adjust.  The debate over the root causes of global imbalances is as fierce and as confused as ever.  The confusion isn’t helped by the vast army of [...]