EuroTragedy: A Drama in Nine Acts

  • 22h 12m 23s
  • Ashoka Mody
  • Recorded Books, Inc.
  • 2019

Blending economic analysis with political drama, EuroTragedy is a groundbreaking account of the euro's history and tragic consequences. In this vivid and compelling chronicle, Ashoka Mody describes how the euro improbably emerged through a narrow historical window as a flawed compromise wrapped in a false pro-European rhetoric of peace and unity.

Drawing on his frontline experience as an official with the IMF, Mody situates the tragedy in a fast-paced global context and guides the listener through the forced - and unforced - errors Eurozone authorities committed during their long financial crisis.

The decision to switch from national currencies to the euro unfolded as both economic and political tragedy. It weakened the growth potential of member states, which made financially vulnerable Europeans more anxious. It deepened perceptions of unfairness and widened the division between nations. Now, the burden falls on younger Europeans, a generation with a discouragingly bleak future.

A compassionate view of European possibilities, EuroTragedy makes clear that the euro's structural flaws will continue to haunt the continent. Instead of centralizing authority to prop up an ossified pro-Europeanist model, it is time to loosen ties that bind too tightly so that a liberal order can once more flourish.

In this Audiobook

  • Chapter 1 - Three Leaps in the Dark, 1950–1982
  • Chapter 2 - Kohl's Euro, 1982–1998
  • Chapter 3 - Schröder Asserts the German National Interest, 1999–2003
  • Chapter 4 - Irrational Exuberance, 2004–2007
  • Chapter 5 - After the Bust, the Denial, 2007–2009
  • Chapter 6 - Delays and Half Measures: Greece and Ireland, 2010
  • Chapter 7 - Policy Wounds Leave Behind Scar Tissue, 2011–2013
  • Chapter 8 - The ECB Hesitates, the Italian Fault Line Deepens, 2014–2017
  • Chapter 9 - The Final Act: A Declining and Divided Europe