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...

It has been quite obvious for several years already that the attempts to achieve the aim of price stability are running into the greatest difficulties. While the rates of inflation are escalating in almost all countries, it is becoming increasingly clear at the same time that the authorities...

In the context of the ongoing financial and economic crisis reference is frequently made to the Great Depression of the 1930s and fears are voiced that we may have embarked on a similar path. This article looks at the conditions prevailing back then and compares them with the present economic...