In the current slowdown in Europe, the United States and Japan, policy makers are vexed by the question when a recovery will come. This is the wrong question. The issue should be how a higher growth path can be reached in the long run, i.e., how the potential growth rate of our economies can be...

This paper addresses the question what effects the enlargement of a monetary union will have on necessary structural reforms in the (low distortion) member countries and the (high distortion) candidate countries. While monetary union lowers reforms in the candidate countries, members of the...