The ECB should focus on the threat of deflation rather than maintaining austerity

Abstract

The European Central Bank will hold its latest policy meeting today. Ahead of the meeting, David Woodruff writes that while growth has resumed in the Eurozone, there are still serious problems across the single currency area, with unemployment at exceptionally high levels in several countries. He argues that the ECB’s primary focus should be on preventing deflation, and that it should look beyond a narrow preoccupation with deficit reduction and austerity policies