Leading scholar on Europe’s financial crisis Barry Eichengreen sent a powerful message to students on Thursday night when he said that Europe’s economic crisis not only affects European markets, but also job markets in the United States.
“Europe’s crisis is a world’s crisis,” Eichengreen said to a room packed with students, professors and community members. “It is affecting students’ chances for jobs after they graduate.”
Eichengreen, a professor from University of California, Berkeley,  has taught economics and political science since 1987. He has written books on European economics, and published academic papers on housing slumps, central banks and international debt.
His visit was funded by the U.S. delegation of the European Commission and the George Slape Visiting Speaker Fund. Though head of the economics department Bruce Blonigen helped plan the lecture last November, he said with the latest developments in Europe, the timing was perfect.
“We invited Dr. Eichengreen to speak because he has broad appeal,” Blonigen said. “We knew he’d draw in a big crowd.”
Once the crowd settled after enjoying coffee and desserts provided by University Catering, Eichengreen kicked off an hour-long lecture with a Saturday Night Live skit that poked fun at the European crisis.
“It’s yogurt-based economy. The only thing that works together in Greece is eyebrows.” The room filled with roars of laughter.
But afterward, the lecture became more serious as Eichengreen outlined with power point slides how European countries have behaved economically since 1999. He said that although reckless spending from Southern European countries was certainly not good for the European economy, Southern Europe is not the only region to blame.
“It takes two to tango,” he said, mentioning how Northern European countries such as France carelessly lent money to Greece.
Eichengreen warned that if Europe experiences a depression, the United States would continue to experience a slow economic recovery from the recession that began in December of 2007.
That statement hit home for some students, such as University senior Kristopher Poulin-Thibault.
“Today with globalization, every economy is interconnected,” he said. “What happens in Europe will have a big influence on Americans and the rest of the world.”
Although Eichengreen said he has hope that the European Central Bank will prevent economic chaos from breaking out in Europe, University senior Kristin Hoselton said the effects of the crisis will likely not just end in Europe.
“Even if it’s not affecting Americans in our daily lives now,” she said, “it will sooner or later.”