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PIGS (economics)

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  PIGS: Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain
  PIIGS: with Ireland
A graph showing the economic data from Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Spain (PIIGS), Germany, the EU and the Eurozone for 2009. The data is taken from Eurostat.

PIGS (also PIIGS[1]) is an acronym used by international bond analysts, academics, and the economic press that refers to the economies of Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain – often in regard to matters relating to sovereign debt markets. Some news and economic organisations have limited or banned its use due to criticism regarding perceived offensive connotations.

History

The acronym has long been used[2] by bank analysts and bond and currency traders dating back at least to the period of the ERM and is used by some analysts,[3] academics[4] and commentators[5][6] as a concise way to refer to the Eurozone countries of southern Europe noted for similar economic environments.[7][8][9][10][11][12]

Controversy

The term was denounced as a pejorative by the Portuguese Finance Minister in 2008,[13] and by some members of the Portuguese and Spanish speaking press.[13][14][15] 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.[16][17][18][19][20][21] Others however, notably the Financial Times and Barclays Capital have restricted or banned[22] the term,[23] with the FT notably reducing but not eliminating[24] its use.

Variations

With the onset of the Financial crisis of 2007–2010 several variations appeared.[25] When rendered as "PIIGS"[26][27] some commentators added the additional "i" for comparative purposes to include Ireland from the 2008–2010 Irish financial crisis, with alternatively the "I" which originally referred to Italy occasionally becoming an interchangeable reference to Ireland[28] by some during this period.

Additional permutations gained prominence during the 2009 United Kingdom bank rescue package period and into the 2010 European sovereign debt crisis as some commentators used numerous variations such as PIIGGS[29][30] which includes Great Britain for assorted political, economic, or social reportage and editorial commentary.[31][32][33]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to PIIGS.

References

  1. ^ Hugh, Edward (Dec 16, 2009). "Is Austria Set To Join The Honourable Company of PIIGs?". Roubini Global Economics. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
  2. ^ Daniel Vernet (24 April 1997). "L'Allemagne au coeur du débat français". Le Monde. que l'argot communautaire a affublés d'un sobriquet peu élégant dans sa signification anglaise : « pigs », pour Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain.
  3. ^ "Greece and Ireland show best returns". Investment Adviser. March 15, 2007. In general, the weakest EU economies, called PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain), are best avoided in the near term. In recent times Ireland has also been associated with the PIGS countries and the acronym has been modified to become PIIGS. However considering Ireland's public debt as a % of GDP, it is an unfortunate comparison.
  4. ^ [1][dead link]
  5. ^ Dean J. Kotlowski (2000). The European Union: from Jean Monnet to the Euro. Ohio University Press. ISBN 0821413317.
  6. ^ Philip Arestis, J. S. L. McCombie, Roger William Vickerman, A. P. Thirlwall (2007). Growth and economic development: essays in honour of A.P. Thirlwall. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 184376878X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ "Der Euro: Fragen und Antworten zum neuen Europa-Geld - Google Books". Books.google.de. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  8. ^ "GoldSeiten.de". GoldSeiten.de. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  9. ^ Von Reppert-Bismarck, Juliane (July 7–14, 2008). "Why Pigs Can't Fly". Newsweek. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  10. ^ "Ten years on, beware a porcine plot". The Economist. June 5, 2008.
  11. ^ "Euro Struggles on Growing PIIGS Debt Concern | OANDA Forex Blog". Forexblog.oanda.com. 1999-02-22. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  12. ^ "Europe's PIGS: Country by country". BBC News. 11 February 2010.
  13. ^ a b Robert Holloway (September 15, 2008). "Pigs in muck and lipstick". AFP. Retrieved 2012-11-30. Cite error: The named reference "portafolio1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  14. ^ J. Ramón González Cabezas (25 January 2009). "La recesión acosa al euro". Lavanguardia.es. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  15. ^ Federico Jimenez Losantos (16 September 2008). "Financial pigs". Elmundo.es.
  16. ^ "Χρημα - Μηνιαιο Οικονομικο & Επενδυτικο Περιοδικο". Hrima.gr. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  17. ^ "Mario Draghi, presidente por sorpresa del BCE". Cotizalia.com. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  18. ^ "La cruz que carga España por Grecia no se hace más pesada". elEconomista.es. 2011-04-19. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  19. ^ "La web de Roubini propone la solución para los PIIGS: euro fuerte y euro débil". Capitalmadrid.info. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  20. ^ "Japón, Francia, Reino Unido, EEUU y PIIGS, los más vulnerables". Libertaddigital.com. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  21. ^ "Krugman atribuye problemas de España a falta de unión fiscal y laboral en UE". Abc.es. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  22. ^ All times are London time (2010-02-05). "Anything but porcine at BarCap | FT Alphaville". Ftalphaville.ft.com. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  23. ^ James Mackintosh (5 February 2010). "STUPID investors in PIGS". ft.com. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  24. ^ "PIGS and not PIIGS? | Money Supply". Blogs.ft.com. 2010-06-11. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  25. ^ Niels Ruben Ravnaas Tips meg. "EUROPA - Banket gjennom giganthjelpen NA24". Na24.no. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  26. ^ Martin de Sa'Pinto (2010-01-15). "Hedge funds to favor BRIC not PIIGS in 2010: Lipper". Reuters. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
  27. ^ "Der Nabel des Mondes und die Träne im Indischen Ozean: 333 Länderbeinamen ... - Richard Deiss - Google Books". Books.google.com. 2010-04-13. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  28. ^ [2][dead link]
  29. ^ [3][dead link]
  30. ^ [4][dead link]
  31. ^ "Are we able to capture the EU debt crisis? Evidence from PIIGGS countries in panel unit root framework". Mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de. 2011. Retrieved 2012-11-30. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  32. ^ "The Role of the Euro During and After Economical Crisis" (PDF). Economics and Applied Informatics. 2010. Retrieved 2012-11-30. {{cite journal}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
  33. ^ "The Impact Of The Financial Crisis On The Currency And The Monetary System" (PDF). Annals of Spiru Haret University. 2010. Retrieved 2012-11-30. {{cite journal}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
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