The first three years of European Monetary Union provide a good basis for a comprehensive analysis of this unprecedented and controversial monetary arrangement. The paper starts with a short discussion of the recent changeover to Euro notes and coins and the general difficulties with the...

Der Krisenverlauf und die Bemühungen der Politik gegenzusteuern lassen den Eindruck entstehen, dass die Finanzmärkte die Politik vor sich hertreiben. Die Politik hat offenbar durch ein Regulierungsversagen die Marktkräfte nicht genügend gebändigt. Wurden die Kapitalmärkte nicht schon seit...

The paper discusses the monetary policy of the European Central Bank (ECB) under the presidency of Mario Draghi. It first shows the serious mistakes made under his predecessor, Jean-Claude Trichet, during which period the ECB destabilized rather than stabilized. Draghi, on the other hand,...

A revision of the European Central Bank's (ECB) strategy is urgently needed. For the new strategy, it is important to define the inflation target explicitly in symmetrical terms. Environmental policy objectives can in principle be reconciled with the ECB's mandate as long as they do not conflict...