As shown in Sinn and Wollmershäuser (2012a), during the European balance-of-payments crisis, inter-governmental credit and Target credit granted by core-country central banks have replaced private international capital flows in financing the crisis countries' current account deficits, and even...

Evaluation of the financial costs of a Eurozone breakup depends critically on the interpretation of TARGET balances. While it has been argued that TARGET claims in the Eurozone can be written off without incurring any losses on the claimants as the value of fiat money is independent of the...

The European Monetary Union is stuck in a severe balance of payments crisis. Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain in particular have suffered from balance of payment deficits whose accumulated value, as measured by the Target balances in the national central banks’ balance sheets, was 314...

This paper presents the first comprehensive Target database of the Eurozone and interprets it from an economic perspective. We show that the Target accounts measure the intra-Eurozone balances of payments and indirectly also international credit given through the Eurosystem in terms of...

As shown in Sinn and Wollmershäuser (2012a), during the European balance-of-payments crisis, inter-governmental credit and Target credit granted by core-country central banks have replaced private international capital flows in financing the crisis countries' current account deficits, and even...

Die Europäische Währungsunion steckt in einer tiefen Zahlungsbilanzkrise. Insbesondere Griechenland, Irland, Portugal und Spanien wiesen in der Vergangenheit Leistungsbilanzdefizite auf, die sich bis März 2011 auf 314 Milliarden Euro akkumulierten. Dies entspricht dem Stand der aggregierten...