Since March 1973 virtually all major currencies or currency blocs have been floating. As a result - so it seemed - controls over international capital movements would become less important. But any hopes for a lasting liberalization of capital movements at flexible rates of exchange must be kept...

It is often maintained, with reference to the increasing competition from newly industrialising countries, that Western support for the development of LDCs' economies would only amount to supplying the rope with which one will later be hanged. Our author argues that, contrary to that opinion,...

Global factors are becoming increasingly important as a cause of international capital flows. It is nearly impossible for some countries to protect themselves from outside influences on their financial markets. This paper investigates the extent to which various global factors such as stock...

The discussion about low interest rates and appropriate debt rules gained renewed impetus after Olivier Blanchard’s 2019 presidential address to the American Economic Association. Interest rates are persistently below growth rates in most advanced economies, including euro area sovereigns....

The long-held truism that finance is always good for growth has been called into question by the global financial crisis. This article examines new evidence on the finance-growth nexus from a European perspective. More specifically, it compares the approach of many CESEE countries - i.e....

Vigorous debate over the effectiveness of the fiscal adjustment programmes for the crisis-stricken countries in the eurozone has grown quite polarised. In this Forum, several experts use analytical, evidence-based approaches to gauge the effectiveness of these programmes. The role played by the...