Rowena Mason at the Telegraph is one of few foreign journalists at a major paper that have realized the scale and implications of the Icelandic economic meltdown;

But Dr Jon Danielsson, an Icelander who teaches economics at the London School of Economics, believes that while the timing of the crash was dictated by the global banking crisis, the scandal is unique among European financial institutions.

He believes the root of Iceland’s problems that have now decimated its economy appear to have started when the government decided to privatise the banks in the early 1990s.

“Iceland got its regulations from the EU, which was basically sound,” he says. “But the government had no understanding of the dangers of banks or how to supervise them. They got into the hands of people who took risks to the highest possible degree.”

From the Telegraph

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