Diverging fiscal policy paths, housing booms and diverging unit labour costs were driving forces of rising intra-European current account imbalances, which were underpinned by low interest rates. Since the outbreak of the crisis, the adjustment of intra-EMU current account imbalances has been...

When the Bretton Woods system collapsed in December 1971 the expectation was that a reformed monetary system could be introduced within a year or two. The following article discusses the question why, contrary to this general expectation, the international instability in payments still exists...

The growing importance of Japan on the world market has brought with it changes in the international division of labour and a shift in the focus of the expansion in world trade away from the EC and the USA. What factors determine the shares of the EC, the USA and Japan in international trade?...

In the last issue of INTERECONOMICS Nobumitsu Kagami analysed Japan’s behavioural pattern and role in the international monetary sphere. The following complementary article covers the field of the country’s foreign trade.