The starting point of this overview is the contention that unemployment problems in industrial countries can be attributed to a significant extent to distortions in the labour market. These interventions have caused the level and structure of real wages to not adequately reflect the productivity...

Economist's thinking about the role of international trade in the process of economic development exhibits a cyclical behaviour. The classical thinking, which held sway until the 1930s, emphasized the crucial role of trade in promoting growth through the optimal allocation of resources made...

In 1959/60, there was a radical shift in Spain's economic development strategy from a strongly autarchic to a cautiously outward orientation. A group of neo-liberal technocrats who enterered for the first time since Civil War the governmental administration obviously understood that the...

The purpose of this essay is to re-assess the case of outward- oriented trade regimes in the process of economic development. The nature of outward-orientation is briefly explained in the next section. As developing countries usually start their industrialization through import substitution...

Im Rahmen der seit zwei Jahren mit großer Vehemenz geführten internationalen Diskussion um die Schaffung einer neuen Weltwirtschaftsordnung, spielt die Regulierung des Rohstoffhandels eine zentrale Rolle: Die Entwicklungsländer, die überwiegend noch auf Rohstoffproduktion und -export...

The purpose of this paper is to discuss major factors behind failures and successes in structural adjustment. The analysis includes the experience of four major European countries: France, Italy, the United Kingdom and West Germany. These countries are known for diverging performances. Germany...

Mit der im September 1986 eingeläuteten Uruguay Runde haben sich die Vertragsparteien des GATT (mittlerweile 95 Staaten) das Ziel gesetzt, bis Ende 1990 eine handelspolitische Wende herbeizuführen (GATT, 1986): weg vom Neoprotektionismus, der seit Jahren um sich greift und die Gefahr in sich...

Ab 1993 soll der innergemeinschaftliche Verkehr von Waren, Dienstleistungen, Personen und Kapital von allen wesentlichen Schranken frei sein. Damit entstünde der in der Welt größte inländische Absatzmarkt für Güter und Dienstleistungen, der innereuropäische Kapitalmarkt käme an...

After World War II, all industrial countries have reached a level of prosperity unprecedented in history; many developing countries and several socialist countries have experienced notable economic growth too. The post-war multilateral trading and monetary systems have been singled out by...

The purpose of this paper is to assess the main factors causing the impasse which the EC has reached. The next section examines the lack of consensus of the member states on the aims of the EC and on the means to achieve them. Subsequently, this is related to the EC enlargement. Finally,...