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David Fleming
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The main alternative to a weak currency as a means of helping weak economies is a system of transfer payments and subsidies. Donald MacDougall showed that the cost of intra-union subsidies (between nations, or between regions) necessary to offset the removal of the exchange rate and interest rate flexibility would require a federal expenditure of at least 7.5–10 percent of GDP, equal to 14 times the level of intra-union transfers in 2001 (calculated on the midpoint of 8.75 percent). Donald MacDougall, “Study Group on the Role of Public Finance in European Integration”, 1977, cited in Ian Milne, “Euro: MacDougall’s Advice Ignored”, Eurofacts, 13 July 2001, p 1.

David Fleming
Dr David Fleming (2 January 1940 – 29 November 2010) was a cultural historian and economist, based in London, England. He was among the first to reveal the possibility of peak oil's approach and invented the influential TEQs scheme, designed to address this and climate change. He was also a pioneer of post-growth economics, and a significant figure in the development of the UK Green Party, the Transition Towns movement and the New Economics Foundation, as well as a Chairman of the Soil Association. His wide-ranging independent analysis culminated in two critically acclaimed books, 'Lean Logic' and 'Surviving the Future', published posthumously in 2016. These in turn inspired the 2020 launches of both BAFTA-winning director Peter Armstrong's feature film about Fleming's perspective and legacy - 'The Sequel: What Will Follow Our Troubled Civilisation?' - and Sterling College's unique 'Surviving the Future: Conversations for Our Time' online courses. For more information on all of the above, including Lean Logic, click the little globe below!

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