This paper deals with flows of technology and information among people and institutions and the role of public support given by different sponsors (the federal government, the Länder and the European Union). Recent theory stresses the importance of the interactions and linkages among acteurs...

In this paper, a short survey is given on the contents and some problems of the theory of optimal currency areas. In addition, a new criterion for the assessment of the optimality of a currency area is proposed: the ability of member states of a monetary union to adjust their economic system to...