“I must admit that I was surprised at what Greek public opinion was willing to suffer. Many years of extreme suffering. However, exiting the euro would be technically very difficult”, says the Nobel Prize-winning Professor of Economics at the City University of New York. Paul Krugmanproviding clarification on the fact that during the crisis years he had strongly supported the idea of ​​Grexit.

In an interview at the Economist Impact SE Europe Events, on the sidelines of the 28th Annual Government Roundtable organized in Lagonisi, he states that if it were up to him, he would have already lowered interest rates in the US.

He also expresses his belief that Joe Biden should pass the baton to Kamala Harris.

Watch parts of the interview:

Here are the main points of the interview:

For Grexit: ‘The case of the Greek exit was quite strong in my mind. I must admit that I was surprised at what Greek public opinion was willing to suffer. Many years of extreme suffering, which was unnecessary, though cruel. Of course, exiting the euro would be technically extremely difficult. Today, however, there is no particularly Greek problem.’

For monetary policy: ‘If I were to make the decision, I would have already “cut” interest rates and I would certainly do so next month. They probably won’t at the Fed, but I don’t think there’s a good case for keeping interest rates high.’

For the US dollar: ‘To the extent that politics will affect the issue, I think the question is simply who will be less responsible between the dollar and the euro.’

For the Biden candidacy: I think Biden should step aside, and I actually have a much better opinion of Vice President Harris than a lot of people. But it’s up to Biden. The threats to democracy are, however, a given, no matter who the Democrat candidate will be.’

About Trump’s economic policy: ‘In his first term, he didn’t do much damage. He applied some tariffs which were not that big. And the tax cuts were fiscal stimulus, not such a bad thing. But all indications are that he will now be much, much more radical in his policies and implement large horizontal tariff increases. He talks about replacing income taxes with customs revenue, which is, among other things, mathematically impossible.’

For China: ‘The Chinese economic model has clearly been unsustainable for some time now. And you know what authoritarian regimes that fail in economic management do to distract the world. Just think of the Falkland Islands. And there is an island off the coast of China that we are very concerned about.’

On US debt: In general, the level of debt does not matter much, unlike deficits. US debt I wouldn’t say it’s not a problem, but it’s not in the top five problems. Not even in the top ten.’

For the stability of the financial system: The answer is we don’t really know. The overarching lesson from 2008 was that what you think you know gets you. Is there anything similar out there now? Very likely.’

On the US economy and public opinion: Most Americans say their state is doing well. They just think the national economy is doing badly. I think it’s really about storytelling.’