Letter from the Editor

摘要

The policy errors of the past few years will provide historians with much tragic fodder. Rarely has the economic leadership of countries been as poor as it is today. The cliché that those who do not learn the lessons of history are condemned to repeat it is, of course, inadequate. A far greater mystery about the human condition is that those who seemingly did learn those lessons repeat it anyway. Today, the widespread adoption of austerity economics during a period of global economic weakness is a classic, and probably tragic, example that the lessons of the Great Depression were not adequately learned. It might lead not merely to a lost decade but to a lost generation. It almost makes one believe in the Greek tragedians' concept of fate. Neither will nor intelligence can change the course of events. Why are we now embarked on precisely the wrong road to rescue economies? Events change just enough to fool us, it appears. Yiannis Kitromilides explores why even John Kenneth Galbraith was too optimistic.