A European Monetary Union (EMU) and the complete transfer of the responsibility for monetary policy to a European central bank are no longer utopian ideas, but a politically highly relevant possibility. The question how economic policy goals can be achieved within such a monetary union is...

Auf dem Kopenhagener Gipfel im Dezember 2002 haben die Staats- und Regierungschefs der EU-Osterweiterung zugestimmt. Ein historisches Projekt befindet sich nun in der Endphase, doch bestehen in der Öffentlichkeit und auch in Fachkreisen durchaus Bedenken hinsichtlich der EU-Beitrittsfähigkeit...

However sharp the clash between the industrial countries' notions of a world economic order and those of the developing countries, one point is gaining increasing importance for both camps: the fight against spreading protectionism. Rising import barriers in the North restrict the developing...

Is there a contradiction between international competitiveness and the central principles of the welfare state? The following article examines both the negative and the positive ways in which welfare statism can affect a country’s ability to compete on international markets.