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Stephanie Flanders, Economics editor

Stephanie Flanders Economics editor

Welcome to Stephanomics - this is where I discuss the UK economy, how it relates to the rest of the world, and how it affects us all

No quick fix for Euro - maybe a slow one?

If you know anything about the Euro crisis you will know that there are "no quick fixes". But it's been going on so long now, you'd think there might have been time for a slow one.

I discussed part of the long-term economic solution to the region's problems on Wednesday night in a piece for the BBC's 10pm television news: in or out of the Euro, to have any chance of growing their way out of trouble, the crisis economies need to rebuild their competitiveness.

IMF: 'Great policies - shame about the economy'

"Britain's government is behaving well - it's the blasted economy that's letting everyone down".

That's my translation of the IMF's latest, curious report on the UK, which had some blunt things to say about the state of the economic recovery, and some pointed advice for the Bank of England and the government on how they could make things better.

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Stephanie added analysis to:

IMF tells UK to consider rate cut

It was a case of "nice policies, shame about the economy".

There was a lot of support for what the government has been doing so far and a lot of blunt words about what has been happening in the economy.

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Greek banks, the euro and the ECB

Talk of a run on Greek deposits, and some banks being cut off from European Central Bank (ECB) support, have added a fresh twist to scary talk about Greece and the euro.

The details are complicated, and not quite as frightening as they first appear. But the big picture is scary indeed, not least for the ECB.

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Sir Mervyn, the UK and the euro

It would be bad news for the UK if the eurozone crisis ends in a messy break-up but it is not the worst-case scenario. The worst-case scenario is that the crisis does not end at all.

That was one clear message from Sir Mervyn King's forceful remarks on the euro crisis today.

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Europe: The big debate

Who is winning the argument in Europe on austerity, growth and the connection between the two?

I had a lively debate on this question this week with the BBC's veteran diplomatic correspondent James Robbins on the World Service.

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A sticky wicket for the Bank

Just a few months ago, the betting was that the Bank of England's policy makers would vote for at least one more round of quantitative easing this year to support the economy - if not several.

That is still quite possible: today's decision not to inject any more new money into the economy merely puts the policy on hold.

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Greece, France and the future of the euro

Financial markets were not surprised by the French or Greek election results, so they initially chose to be only mildly alarmed. But the more that investors and policymakers think about them, the more worried they are - for good reason.

Short term, at least, the most important thing that has happened in the past few days is that Greece has moved several steps closer to leaving the euro.

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The fine art of squeezing: Britain vs America

Labour says America has grown faster in the past few years because it has not tried so hard to cut government borrowing. Is that true?

President Obama and Congress, so the argument runs, have not tried to cut America's humungous deficit "too far and too fast". As a result, their economy is now significantly larger than it was before the recession, whereas Britain's is still more than 4% smaller.

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No recovery for UK: No let up for ONS

The phrase "double-dip recession" conjures up images of roller coasters, but if the UK's recovery were a fairground ride I'd be asking for my money back.

The downward lurch in the economy in 2008-09 was certainly dramatic. But for the past 18 months the UK's national output has been broadly, and disappointingly, flat.

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Stephanie added analysis to:

Economy in double-dip recession

These figures are slightly worse than many expected, but the fact that the UK is now technically back in recession should not detract from the underlying reality, which is very much as predicted.

The UK economy has been bumping along the bottom for more than a year and is still struggling to gain momentum.

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President Hollande and the IMF

Are international policy makers quaking at the possibility that Francois Hollande might soon be President of France?

Spending a few days in Washington and New York last week I was surprised to discover the answer was no.

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Spain and the eurozone's Catch 22

Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

It's a phrase that has sprung to mind pretty often since the eurozone crisis started, and it now applies - in block capitals - to Spain.

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Re-routing UK trade

Today's trade figures show David Cameron has a battle on his hands boosting Britain's exports. But he's gone to the right part of the world to do it.

In the Budget last month, George Osborne again cited his favourite trade statistic - that the UK exports more to the Republic of Ireland than to all of the Brics countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) combined. In fact, as I tweeted at the time, that's not true. It hasn't been true for a while.

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Spring fever in the eurozone

Apparently, global investors are having second thoughts about the eurozone crisis. They've decided it might not be over, after all.

Well, tell us something we didn't know, I'm tempted to say on behalf of many economists.

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Britain's zig-zag economy

When Sir Mervyn King spoke of the "zig-zag" pattern we could expect in 2012, he wasn't wrong.

Official data - and private surveys - have been all over the place lately.

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A big debate about small numbers (cont'd)

As expected, this wasn't a Budget about the big picture.

The state of the economy and public finances hasn't changed much since November, and in theory, all the many changes the chancellor announced on Wednesday leave the balance between spending and taxes at the end of this parliament more or less unchanged.

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A big debate about small numbers

Here's the best news about tomorrow's UK budget: it's not going to be about the big numbers.

Here's the bad news: it's going to revolve instead around whether George Osborne is cutting taxes on Britain's highest earners.

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The truth about UK debt

Why did we have a financial crisis? And why has the recovery been so slow?

Ask any normal person these questions, they would probably blame the banks. But then world-weary "experts" - policy makers and commentators - would usually step forward, to put them straight.

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Sharing the burden: top houses v top people

People can move. Houses, by and large cannot.

That's one good reason economists would give for removing the 50p tax rate on Britain's highest earners - and taxing its most expensive houses instead.

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About Stephanie

Stephanie has been a reporter at the New York Times (2001); a speech writer and senior advisor to the US Treasury Secretary (1997-2001); a Financial Times leader-writer and columnist (1993-7); and an economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and London Business School.

She became BBC economics editor in April 2008.

She has won numerous awards, including the 2010 Harold Wincott Award for online journalism.

Her father was Michael Flanders, of the 1950s and '60s musical comedy duo, Flanders and Swann.

She lives in West London with her partner and their two children.

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