It seems like it. The Financial Times reported yesterday that “European ministers said on Monday they had no plans to add to recent fiscal stimulus packages despite calls from the US for radical expansions in government action to boost ailing economies.” The call is coming from Larry Summers, senior economic adviser to Barack Obama, and the White House chair of the Counsel of Economic Advisors, Christina Romer.
According to the FT, “Jean-Claude Juncker, chair of the ‘eurogroup’ of ministers, said: ‘The 16 finance ministers agreed that recent American appeals insisting Europeans make an added budgetary effort were not to our liking.’”
And in today’s Wall Street Journal, Mary Kissel reports that unlike the U.S. call for more spending and more government intervention in everything, New Zealand’s prime minister, John Key, is talking about market-based approaches to the global recession rather than government spending. Read more here.
— Veronique de Rugy is an economist at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.