This paper offers a first assessment of the contribution of international production to the dynamics of regional integration in Europe. After very high expectations, there is increasing scepticism concerning the role of foreign direct investment as an engine of growth in the region. On the basis...

Recent contributions on offshoring often assume that firms can freely split their production process into separate steps which can be ranked according to the cost savings from producing abroad. We replace this assumption by the notion of a technologically determined sequence of production steps....

It is neither likely nor desirable for central banks to exit from unconventional monetary policies in the near future. However, it is important that central banks develop an exit strategy, evaluate the merits of new and old monetary policy tools and communicate with the public so as to maintain...