Die Verhandlungen zur Fortschreibung des Kyoto-Protokolls in Durban Ende 2011 haben gezeigt, dass kurz- bis mittelfristig mit keinem verbindlichen und ambitionierten globalen Abkommen zur Treibhausgasreduktion zu rechnen ist. Vor diesem Hintergrund gewinnt die klimapolitische Strategie der...

Die Geldpolitik des Eurosystems operiert seit über vier Jahren im Krisenmodus. Sie lässt dabei eine massive Zahlungsbilanzfinanzierung durch nationale Zentralbanken innerhalb der Europäischen Währungsunion zu. In den Defizitländern soll der Zusammenbruch systemisch relevanter...

This paper presents three simple policies for overcoming the crisis that can be implemented immediately and require none of the moves such as national guarantees or fiscal transfers to which many Europeans are opposed, nor moves towards federation that entail Treaty changes, which electorates...

Some current account rebalancing within EMU is currently in progress. Following the financial crisis, German current account surpluses with Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece have decreased. The following article shows that rebalancing has been achieved mainly at the expense of domestic demand in...

The economic crisis has given rise to significant challenges to the welfare state. Given that welfare expenses account for a large proportion of all state spending in the member countries of the European Union, reducing government spending means cutting welfare measures. Yet social protection,...

This paper reviews the novel policy measures developed by the EU to deal with insolvent member states and assesses their impact on Greece's political economy. Greece represents a major test case as a recipient of two bailout loans plus debt relief from private creditors. The paper examines the...

Vigorous debate over the effectiveness of the fiscal adjustment programmes for the crisis-stricken countries in the eurozone has grown quite polarised. In this Forum, several experts use analytical, evidence-based approaches to gauge the effectiveness of these programmes. The role played by the...

Potential output is an elusive concept. This stands in sharp contrast to its prominent role in economic analysis. In particular, monetary targetting as practised by the Deutsche Bundesbank relies on an estimate of future potential output growth. Different approaches usually lead to fairly...

How do external and internal adaptation pressures influence the transformation of the party-state system in China? How susceptible is the Chinese systemtransformation to those impacts? This paper deals with the sensitivity of the transformation process on the short-term under different external...