We analyze the similarities and the differences in the fragility of the European Monetary System (EMS) and the Eurozone. We test the hypothesis that in the EMS the fragility arose from the absence of a credible lender of last resort in the foreign exchange markets while in the Eurozone it was...

A number of economists, following Professor Hans-Werner SINN, President of the Munich Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (Ifo), have opened a debate on the true significance and the risks entailed by the system of compensation operating within the Eurozone, TARGET2 (Trans-European Automated...

Joachim Weeber, Nordakademie, Hochschule der Wirtschaft, Elmshorn, erläutert hier, warum er die Erwartungen an die Bankenunion als Instanz zur Vermeidung zukünftiger Systemkrisen als deutlich zu hoch ansieht. Ziel müsse vielmehr die Einrichtung einer Bankenaufsicht als supranationale...

Unter dem Zeitdruck der zu Ende gehenden Legislaturperiode hat das Europäische Parlament Mitte April Verordnungen und Richtlinien zur Bankenunion beschlossen, die einen entscheidenden Meilenstein zur Sicherung der Finanzstabilität im Euroraum markieren. Franz-Christoph Zeitler, ehem....

On 10 January 2013 the ECB Governing Council decided “to keep the key ECB interest rates unchanged” based on an assessment of a 'contained' inflationary pressure and a weak economic activity, a contraction of real GDP in second and third quarter of 2012. Similar decisions have been taken by...

The nature of fiscal policies was changed dramatically by the creation of the Eurozone. While prior to the start of the Eurozone, national governments were sovereign in that they could back up the issue of debt by the issue of money, they lost this sovereignty in the Eurozone. This had dramatic...

The article offers an overview of the literature on the many institutional weaknesses of the Eurozone exposed in the 2009-2013 period. Comparing failures with expected outcomes clarifies where the original project has gone wrong. Three main conclusions are offered. a) The Eurozone is even less a...

Unlike the crisis years of 2007-2009 (when the insolvency of large banks was a major problem), the current round of the global financial crisis has fiscal origins. Almost all developed countries suffer from an excessive public debt burden that has been built up over the last two decades or more....

The rising delinquencies in the U.S. subprime mortgage market in 2006 and the succeeding collapse in housing prices had a considerably negative impact on the functioning of the European financial systems and the smooth operation of European economies. Indeed, in the Euro-area, what started as a...

The nature of fiscal policies was changed dramatically by the creation of the Eurozone. While prior to the start of the Eurozone, national governments were sovereign in that they could back up the issue of debt by the issue of money, they lost this sovereignty in the Eurozone. This had dramatic...