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PIGS, PIIGS,PIIGGS are acronyms used by international bond analysts, academics, and by the international economic press that refer to the economies of Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain, especially in regards to matters relating to sovereign debt markets. Recently Ireland and Great Britain have been added to the acronym (PIIGS e PIIGGS). More recently Italy has been replaced by Ireland in the original acronym . Some news and economic organisations have limited or banned their use due to criticism regarding perceived offensive connotations.

History

The acronyms have long been used by bank analysts, bond and currency traders dating back at least to the period of the ERM and are used by some analysts, academics and commentators as a concise way to refer to the Eurozone countries of southern Europe noted for similar economic environments.

The PIIGS acronym probably came from BAFFLING PIGS, used by bond and forex dealers as a check list of the eurozone states: Belgium, Austria, France, Finland, Luxembourg, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. However, this does exclude the newer Eurozone members of Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Controversy

The term has been actively denounced as an pejorative by the Portuguese Finance Minister, and some members of the Portuguese and Spanish speaking press. Members of the Spanish and other international economic press continue to use the term of art in its narrow and restricted economic sense as a grouping acronym like the related BRIC. Others however, notably the Financial Times and Barclays Capital have restricted or banned the term.

Proposed corrective policies

Some European think-tanks such as the CEE Council have argued that the predicament Greece and Spain find themselves in today is the result of a decade of debt-fueled Keynesian policies pursued by local policy makers and complacent EU central banker, and recommend the imposition of a battery of corrective policies to control public debt- such as drastic austerity measures and substantially higher taxes.

Some senior German policy makers went as far as to say that emergency bailouts should bring harsh penalties to EU aid recipients such as Greece.

See also

• European Central Bank
• Enlargement of the eurozone
• Globalization
• Union for the Mediterranean
• Public debt

References

1. "Bailing out PIIGS just encourages bad behaviour". The Globe and Mail. 23-12-2009. Retrieved 5-2-2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= and |date= (help)
2. "Reform failures may still kill off the euro". The Sunday Times. 25-5-2008. Retrieved 5-2-2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= and |date= (help)
3. "Greek burdens ensure some Pigs won't fly". Financial Times. 28-1-2010. Retrieved 5-2-2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= and |date= (help)
4. "'I' in 'PIGS' is for Ireland not Italy, insist UniCredit staff". Irish Independent. 06-2-2010. Retrieved 8-2-2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= and |date= (help)
5. http://books.google.de/books?id=itGoAAAAIAAJ&q=pigs+portugal+italy+greece+spain&dq=pigs+portugal+italy+greece+spain&cd=3
6. http://www.goldseiten.de/content/diverses/artikel.php?storyid=2576
7. Von Reppert-Bismarck, Juliane (July 7–14, 2008). "Why Pigs Can't Fly". Newsweek.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
8. "Ten years on, beware a porcine plot". The Economist. June 5, 2008.
9. ^ Robert Holloway (September 15, 2008). "Pigs in muck and lipstick". AFP. Cite error: The named reference "portafolio1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
10. J. Ramón González Cabezas (25 January 2009). "La recesión acosa al euro". Lavanguardia.es.
11. Federico Jimenez Losantos (16 September 2008). "Financial pigs". Elmundo.es.
12. "La web de Roubini propone la solución para los PIIGS: euro fuerte y euro débil".
13. "Japón, Francia, Reino Unido, EEUU y PIIGS, los más vulnerables".
14. "Krugman atribuye problemas de España a falta de unión fiscal y laboral en UE".
15. {{cite web |author=James Mackintosh "STUPID investors in PIGS". ft.com. 5 February 2010.
16. Template:Fr icon see M. Nicolas Firzli, 'Bank Regulation and Financial Orthodoxy: the Lessons from the Glass-Steagall Act' (PDF), retrieved 2010-01-04
17. 'Merkel Economy Adviser Says Greece Bailout Should Bring Penalty', retrieved 2010-02-15

External links

• Business terms
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• Development
• Economic history
• International relations
• Investment
• Lists of countries
• Economy of the European Union