Despite considerable differences, there were also many similarities in economic performance between Latvia and Greece before their respective adjustment crises. After the immediate crisis, however, economic activity rebounded sharply in Latvia but continued to contract in Greece. This paper...

This note takes a look at the development of monetary aggregates and debt in the G7 (US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan), plus non-G7 euro-area countries, which have an important bearing on the future development of price levels. It also discusses the problem of restoring external...

Despite broad agreement among central bankers, policy-makers and economists that creation of a ‘Banking Union’ is essential for the survival of the euro, progress in building this union has been painfully slow. This is largely due to the protracted fights over which government will be the...

This paper proposes a two-step, market-based approach to debt reduction: Step 1. The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) would offer holders of debt of the countries with an EFSF programme (probably Greece, Ireland and Portugal = GIP) an exchange into EFSF paper at the market price...

From the perspective of the Austrian economic school, economic policy is presently following the wrong recipes for resolving the financial crisis. In his Hayek-lecture 2012, Thomas Mayer explains how the insights of the Austrian school into the link between the real economy and the financial...

The effects of an appreciation of the deutsche mark are traced with the help of a computable general equilibrium model under alternative structural policy scenarios. In the first scenario, characterized by severe structural rigidities, the contractionary effects of exchange rate appreciation...

The rising trend toward protectionism in industrial countries, if unchecked, could critically constrain the growth and development prospects of developing countries. Many developing countries are undertaking difficult adjustment efforts to overcome their balance of payments and external debt...