The Great Debate UK

Wrong, wrong and wrong again – a response to “Latvia: let the lat go”

- Morten Hansen is a guest columnist, the views expressed are his own. He is head of the economics department at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga -

The debate for or against a Latvian fixed exchange rate rages on. There are good pieces of analyses on both sides of the debate, there are less good ones, there are mediocre ones – and then there is Jonathan Ford’s “Latvia: let the lat go” from 29 July.

The article does not argue why the lat should be devalued –- fair enough, the arguments have been heard before. Neither does it mention all the potential risks of devaluation such as a currency collapse but I can live with that, too. But an 804-word article that contains no less than 10 – 10! – inaccuracies or outright wrong statements is highly objectionable.

For those who have read Mr. Ford’s article allow me to make comments on these 10 points.