On September 3-4, 2009 SUERF and Utrecht University School of Economicsorganized the Colloquium "The Quest for Stability" in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The papers included in this SUERF Study are based on contributions to the Colloquium.

In this paper we analyse the likely effects of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) on European unemployment. We start by describing the current unemployment situation in the European Union (EU). In so doing, we try to assess the relative importance of European, national and regional shocks in...

This paper provides empirical evidence on the effectiveness of movements in nominal exchange rates in smoothing cyclical imbalances between countries, as explained by the literature on optimal currency areas. We use restrictions from the Mundell-Flemming model (on which the theory of optimal...

This paper provides empirical evidence on the effectiveness of movements in nominal exchange rates in smooting cyclical imbalances between countries, as explained by the literature on optimal currency areas.

This paper is an attempt to provide an updated assessment of what we know and what do not know about the impact of monetary policy on the economy and what implications follow for the conduct of monetary policy in today's world. Firstly, we discuss the conditions under which monetary policy can...

This paper uses cointegration techniques to assess the extent to which the behaviour of private- and public-sector savings and investment and those of the nation as a whole have been consistent with long-term solvency over the last three decades. In addition, an attempt is made to analyse...

This paper focuses on Spanish participation in the EMS and tries to answer the following questions: What net gains can Spain be expected to make from EMS membership? Were all the required preconditions satisfied for a smooth entrance into the System? What has been the experience of the peseta so...