Pierre Cailleteau, an economist and sovereign risk analyst at Moody’s has created a new “misery index”:
The index adds together a country’s budget deficit, as a percentage of gross domestic product, and its unemployment rate. It captures the current conundrum for many countries: their economies need stimulus, but their budgets may not be able to afford it.
The unfortunate leader in that misery index among the countries cited by Moody’s is Spain, with an index of 30, thanks to an unemployment rate of 20 percent and a deficit of 10 percent of G.D.P. The figures are Moody’s estimates for 2010.
