In the second part of the 80s, Japan was under political pressure to expand aggregate demand. It followed suit in increasing its money supply. This caused severe inflation and the financial bubble which collapsed in 1990 resulting in capital losses and in a sizable loss of GDP. This paper draws...

The paper presents labor productivities in the member countries of Euroland. The result is that there is quite a divergence in labor productivities (per head) in the European Monetary Union. The Netherlands and Italy reach 85 percent of the West German level, Spain 62 and Portugal 35. This...