Letters

摘要

Sir- Your leader on debt reduction, which you admit is a "painful process" that will "dominate the rich world's economies for years", focused on three policy options: austerity, exceptional growth and default ("Handle with care", July 9th). But you overlooked a fourth option that is possibly the most realistic and constructive: debt monetisation. Some of the world's richest economies, led by the United States, Japan and Britain, are probably so much in debt that no realistic growth scenario will be sufficient. Nor will their fragmented democracies yield enough budgetary discipline. A default seems unthinkable for any of these countries, thus growth and austerity could be, at best, only part of any solution.