A monetary union among autonomous countries cannot simultaneously maintain an independent monetary policy, national fiscal sovereignty and a no-bailout clause. These three features make up an impossible trinity, and attempts to preserve all three concurrently will ultimately end in failure. In...

Because of continuing Inflation and rising unemployment, Americans were beginning to feel rather frustrated with the Nlxon Administration for their non-actions on the economic front. As an answer to this growing feeling of anxiety the US-President introduced an economic programme which has...

A number of tools have been suggested for solving the European sovereign debt crisis, in particular the options of leveraging the EFSF/ESM, introducing Eurobonds and a European Troubled Asset Relief Programme (Euro-TARP). However, it is unclear how these instruments will work, given jittery...

Weighty objections have been raised against stabilization of commodity markets through agreements. The drawbacks of commodity agreements can, however, be largely overcome if the rigid theoretical notion of a price fixed strictly for a long period is abandoned.

UNCTAD's Integrated Programme for Commodities (IPC) would come much closer to being realised, if the industrial and the developing countries could agree on creating the Common Fund. But the Fund remains in dispute. While the LCDs only want to discuss the details of its organisation, the...