The world’s major central banks have radically altered their strategies since 2008 as they grappled with the great financial crisis and its various consequences. One view (Issing 2016) is that they have gone too far, and that their actions will result in inflation and loss of independence....

With hindsight the debate over whether Europe constitutes an optimal currency area overlooked the elephant in the room. Following Robert Mundell’s considerations, the expert debate in the 1990s focused on the question of whether Europe’s capital and labor markets were sufficiently integrated...