Two macroeconomic constraints determine the credibility of an exchange rate system: the availability of foreign exchange and the sustainability of fiscal balance. The following paper analyses the relative importance of these constraints for fixed and flexible exchange rate systems, examines the...

Griechenlands Zahlungsprobleme gefährden offensichtlich nicht die Stabilität der Eurozone, obwohl seine Schuldentragfähigkeit langfristig nicht gewährleistet ist. Dennoch wurde Griechenland eine Programmverlängerung um vier Monate zugestanden und auch über ein drittes Hilfsprogramm wird...

Am 1.5.2004 sind zehn neue Mitgliedstaaten, vor allem Transformationsländer, in die EU aufgenommen worden. Drei Jahre später, am 1.1.2007, kamen Bulgarien und Rumänien hinzu. Während deutsche Unternehmer zunächst die zusätzliche Konkurrenz fürchteten, bewerten sie die Auswirkungen der...

Recent public debate on the costs and benefits of EU membership has focused more on the costs and less on the benefits. This paper explores the benefits from improved regulatory or policy implementation and enforcement. If actual regulatory enforcement differs from the socially optimal level,...

The UK exit from the EU represents a qualitative change in the nature of EU membership. On the one hand, it conveyed the lesson that for the Union to be sustainable, membership needs to entail constant caretaking as far as individual members' contributions to the common good are concerned, with...

In the debate about a possible exit of Greece from the euro area, Argentina is often referred to as an example - both by those in favour of and those warning of the adverse effects of a Grexit. Yet, while Argentina pulled off an impressive economic recovery after its 2001-02 crisis - one that...

The date of entry of Spain and Portugal into the European Community is drawing ever nearer. What are the likely economic consequences of the integration into the EC of these Southern European countries, whose level of development is quite different from that of the other members? The experience...