From the very beginning of the European Monetary Union the crucial institutions, the European Commission and the European Central Bank, led by mainstream economic thinking, were not up to their task of controlling the core of the system effectively. A huge gap in competitiveness among the member...

A whole range of economic solutions have been proposed in recent years in an endeavour to combat rising inflation. Of these, the discussion on a policy of gradualism vis-à-vis shock therapy has given rise to considerable controversy. In the light of this controversy the following article...