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...

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...