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Efforts to change labor laws by Italy's prime minister, Mario Monti.

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A study by Dr. McCormick of the Harvard Medical School and professors at the City University of New York School of Public Health at Hunter College, shows that the anticipated savings from conversion to medical records may not materialize to the extent expected. This study of data from 1100 doctors of 28,000 patient visits shows that with access to digital records doctors actually increased the number of tests ordered- from 12.9% of visits without digital records to 18% of visits with digital records. For more advanced tests such as MRI and CT scan the rate was 70% higher. Dr. McCormick says this may be because the new digital technology may have made it easier to order tests.

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The ratification of the European Union's Fiscal Treaty of Dec. 2011 will require a two thirds majority in both houses of parliament. The coalition government of Angela Merkel lacks such a majority. This means the support of the Social Democrats and the Greens party will be needed to pass the treaty in Germany. The Social Democrats parliamentary leader Frank-Walter Steinmeier, says he cannot "picture an approval of the pact without growth-boosting measures." The Merkel position of strict austerity policies in tackling the eurozone debt crisis has come under intense criticism for lack of growth boosting measures. Recent economic performance clearly in Greece and Portugal, and to some extent in Ireland, Spain and Italy, shows the decline in GDP with austerity cuts alone will worsen the deficits or lead to a prolonged period of economic stagnation.

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This Journal editorial cites the regulatory burdens imposed on small and medium sized businesses in Italy that discourage hiring and innovation. Prime minister Mario Monti's efforts to reduce these burdens and change labor laws in Italy.

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The steel and chemical industries are bright spots in the Russian economy, helping Russia weather the economic downturn of 2014-2015. Costs denominated in rubles have fallen much further increasing profits for companies like Severstal.

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About $70 billion in Greek credit default swaps are outstanding. But after all sides settle their accounts only $3.2 billion will have to be paid out. The International Swaps and Derivatives Association made the decision to set off the swaps payment after the Greek debt restructuring and bond swap on March 8, 2012.

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An account by Journal reporters based on over 25 interviews with eurozone policymakers shows how the central players in the eurozone drama acted to defend their national interests during the period April to July 2011. On one side France's president Sarkozy, Frenchman Claude Trichet at the European Central Bank, arguing in favor of the banks not to take bondholder losses or haircuts on loans made to Greece. On the other side the Bundesbanks Axel Weber, and Jens Weidman, Jurgen Stark and German Finance Minister Schauble. The Germans argued strongly for bondholder losses to take responsibility for bad loan decisions by French and German banks. French banks had committed more loans to Greece than German banks and had more at stake. German public opinion was strongly against German taxpayers paying for the losses, making German politicians insistent that European banks take losses on their bad loan decisions, or Germany would not support additional loans to Greece. Throughout April to July the two sides were locked in an impasse. The French feared losses for their banks and a Lehman Brothers bankruptcy style situation. The Germans at the Bundesbank and the Finance Ministry were equally insistent. A July 2011 summit meeting did not settle the issue. The events not covered here from the July to the December summit of eurozone leaders resulted in bondholders taking 50% haircut on loans to Greece, reducing the debt burden in Greece after austerity measures led to popular protests. The French pushed hard for the ECB or the EFSF to be allowed to make large purchases of bonds of troubled eurozone countries in an effort to protect Spain and Italy from contagion through higher bond yields. The Netherlands and Finland supported Germany's position. German bankers Weber, Weidman at the Bundesbank and Finance Minister Schauble opposed large scale buying by the ECB of Italy's and Spain's bonds and Chancellor Merkel said about a common eurobond that "this is not going to happen." Governments changed in Greece, Italy, and Spain by Dec. 2011, which committed to austerity programs and spending cuts. Italian Mario Draghi was appointed with German support as new head of the ECB. In late December 2011 Draghi launched the Long Term Financing Operation for lending unlimited amounts at 1% for three year loans to European banks and relaxing the terms to accept government bonds and other debt as collateral for loans. The effect of this was to provide a large infusion of liquidity into the banking system in Europe and drastically bring down the yields on bonds issued by Italy and Spain....

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The historical allusions in the media in Greece, Italy and Germany, and cultural perceptions which have increased differences in the European Union. This comes at a time of austerity programs in the Southern tier of EU countries and pressure on Germany to fund the debt reduction in some EU countries.

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Krugman points out the risks for the U.S. economy as the U.S. loses export competitiveness with the euro reaching parity with the dollar. The huge shift from $1.50 to the dollar at one point to parity gives Europe a sudden strong boost. Europe needs the boost to escape a deflationary trap, and there is little that can be done for capital flows and exchange rates, says Krugman. He points out that many Federal Reserve governors were clueless of the impact this could have on U.S. growth, sanguinely assuming the U.S. would boost growth in 2015. Better says Krugman for the Fed to be very careful about raising rates at a time when wage growth is sluggish, and inflation low.

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Katrina Vanden Heuvel describes the problems with media coverage in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, where what dominated she says was fake news, fake coverage, and misinformation, failure to adhere to the American values that would censure any denigration of women, and failure to cover the critical issues of how the election would affect the economy, the middle and working class.  She points out that the election of a first female president was not treated with the same respect that the election of a first black person as president was. 

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Andrew Roth describes a situation in Russia where president Putin is more popular than the ruling party. The United Russia Party was shown having support of 45% in pre election polls. The election campaign used Putin posters and the slogan "the party of the president," to increase voter support.  Some voters see Putin working really hard to improve the economic situation. Samuel Greene, director of the Russia Institute at King's College, London, says that even after efforts to increase support United Russia Party has failed to generate voter enthusiasm. Voter turnout was low especially in Moscow and St Petersburg. The election result is seen by experts as a way to give Putin support to tackle the economic problems facing the country, and ensure stability. About 343 members of the parliament out of total 450 are from the United Russia Party. The budget shortfall of 3% is being met by the government  by using state funds, and one of the sovereign funds is likely to be exhausted in 2017. One of the options is to cut back on social entitlements, increase the pension age. Prime minister Medvedev has already said state pensions cannot be indexed because "we don't have the money right now." ...

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The ECB's annual report for 2012 and the role the ECB under Mario Draghi played in the eurozone crisis in 2011-2012. The gains made in eurozone financial architecture, especially the agreement for the ECB as financial supervisor for European banks. The ECB sees itself as the supervisor for all European banks- the French position in the discussions in Brussels. The agreement of Dec. 12, 2012 only says banks with assets over 30 billion euros, or 20% of GDP of countries, or operations in two or more countries will come under supervision by the ECB.

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Jorg Asmusen, member of the executive board of the European Central Bank, and Jens Weidmann, president of Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, argue on opposite sides before the German Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe. Weidmann says the bond buying of sovereign bonds of Italy and Greece by the ECB is unconstitutional, Asmussen defends the ECB's plan to lower the borrowing costs for Italy and Spain in 2012. Both Asmussen and Weidmann are students of Manfred Neumann, professor of Economics at Bonn University. Neumann says such action is unconstitutional. The Federal Constitutional Court takes public opinion into account in its rulings.

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The joint statement after the G-8 summit stated that "our imperative is to promote growth and jobs." It stated the budget deficits need to be addressed but said "spending cuts must "take into account countries' evolving economic conditions and underpin confidence and economy recovery." Germany's Merkel in her remarks said growth and deficit reduction supported each other, that "we have to work on both paths, and the participants have made clear, and I think this is great progress." Opposition Social Democrats in Germany say Ms. Merkel is adept at changing as the situation changes, and it appears Merkel is making the transition away from strict austerity policies she had championed earlier. Especially now with fresh elections in France, Netherlands and Greece, and the election of Francois Hollande on a pro-growth platform, the German position of strict austerity is being increasingly questioned on all sides. French president Hollande met U.S. president Obama at a pre-arranged meeting prior to the summit. Obama and Hollande see the need to reduce high unemployment in the U.S. and Europe by encouraging growth, creating a common interest....

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The government of president Hollande in France added about 7 billion euros of new taxes after May 2012, and an additional 20 billion euros in the 2013 budget. Spending cuts totaled about half the tax increases. France's taxes are the highest of the major EU countries and there is concern that this may hinder the economic recovery. French businesses are cutting back on capital spending. Insee survey for April 2013 showed French manufacturing businesses planning cuts in investment of 4% for 2013. The government says spending cuts go up in 2014 to about two thirds of the deficit reduction and tax increases about 6 billion euros. France's statistics agency Insee says economic growth was 0.5% in the second quarter of 2013 compared to the prior quarter. The recovery was supported by consumer spending, with private capital investment lagging behind. This is about 1.9% growth in GDP on an annualized basis, according to J.P. Morgan.

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Mario Monti, the new prime minister of Italy, is taking on one of Italy's toughest problems, a pervasive culture of tax evasion. The loss to the economy is not measured ony in terms of the loss of money to the Treasury, which one estimate puts at $340 billion a year. This burdens companies and the manufacturing sector with higher taxes and reduces investment in new plants, research and development, capital equipment, which would increase jobs. By encouraging this culture of tax evasion Berlusconi undercut and jeopardized his own plans to bring new economic growth to Italy. Berlusconi prevented allegations of false accounting against his companies by passing a law through parliament that made reduced penalties for false accounting. In Italy one saying goes that "only fools pay." In a country of 60 millon people only 394,000 people earn an income of more than $135,000 a year. "Evasion totale," referred to in newspapers in Italy is about total evasion by some owners of large property. One effort in parliament is to introduce legislation that would require the use of debit or credit cards, electronic transfer or other similiar methods of payment for amounts above a certain amount- with one of the amounts proposed being 100 euros. A recent poll by Demopolis showed that 73% of Italians polled want to see strong action to prevent tax evasion. This is also a strong reason why Monti, Draghi at the ECB, Bundesbank officials at Germany's central bank, and German chancellor Merkel, do not see the ECB's large scale buying of eurobonds by essentially printing money as a solution to eurozone debt problems- it puts off taking the neccessary and essential steps for reviving eurozone economies....

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A decision by management of the Ginori porcelain tableware company near Florence, Italy, to compete at the low end leads to its bankruptcy. Ginori was considered a prestigious maker of porcelain tableware since 1735, and hired top designers. The decline in formal dining led to a decline in demand. The decision to move to the low end is considered by workers to have been a mistake as low end Chinese imports have dominated the market in Italy. The difficulty of competing at the low end and the need to come up with a product and technological advantage that commands a higher price is a challenge facing Italy's manufacturing industry.