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Deflation

Is Europe at risk of getting stuck in a Japanese-style economic stagnation?

Deflation is something of an economic bogeyman - but is it real, and does it threaten to drag the eurozone into Japanese-style stagnation? Presenter Ed Butler speaks to economists Steve Hanke, who calls the spectre of falling prices a 'big phoney', and Paul de Grauwe who warns it could mean permanently higher prices.

We speak to William Saito, a Japanese government advisor about the role that demographics have played in compounding the country's stagnation. And we look in particular at Greece, where prices were falling at an annual rate of almost 3% at one point last year. But is deflation necessarily a bad thing for the Greeks? And have the price drops been showing up in the places they need to in order to restore the Greek economy to health?

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18 minutes

Last on

Fri 21 Feb 2014 08:32GMT

Broadcast

  • Fri 21 Feb 2014 08:32GMT

Podcast