Für die Teilnahme an der Währungsunion sollten nur Staaten zugelassen werden, die alle Konvergenzkriterien erfüllen. Bislang tun dies nur Deutschland, Irland und Luxemburg. In allen anderen Ländern bedarf es einschneidender Maßnahmen — insbesondere bei der Verringerung der öffentlichen...

Since the fall of last year, EMU countries have experienced a slowdown in economic activity triggered by a deceleration of exports. The expansion of internal demand has been more or less intact due to low interest rates and higher terms of trade. Consumer confidence has continued to rise and...

Expectations about additional short-run gains from joining monetary union should not be too optimistic. Most of the expected gains from a monetary union are largely endogenous to credible, time-consistent domestic policies. Mere euro area membership is not a replacement for that. However,...

Die Handelspolitik der Gemeinschaft ist im Jahre Eins des Binnenmarktes deutlich ins Schlingern geraten. Drei Faktoren haben dazu beigetragen. Erstens mußten "Altlasten" aus der Vor-Binnenmarktzeit in Gestalt unterschiedlicher nationaler Handelspolitiken vereinheitlicht werden, um einen völlig...

Wie weit die EG auf dem Weg zum Binnenmarkt vorangekommen ist, läßt sich daran messen, ob die Abweichungen der Preise auf den nationalen Märkten vom EGDurchschnitt im Zeitablauf abgenommen haben (Trend zum Preisausgleich). Preisvergleiche für bestimmte Güter, Dienstleistungen und...

The recovery in Euroland has started at the beginning of this year but it has remained rather moderate. Real GDP increased at an annual rate of less than 1½ percent during the first half of 2002. Capacity utilization has declined further and unemployment continued to go up. While exports have...

The economic situation in the euro area continues to be weak. In the course of 2003, real GDP has only stagnated. Several factors prevented the expected recovery to materialize. Last year’s collapse of stock prices dampened activity, so did the high oil price. In addition, the uncertainty in...

In the current slowdown in Europe, the United States and Japan, policy makers are vexed by the question when a recovery will come. This is the wrong question. The issue should be how a higher growth path can be reached in the long run, i.e., how the potential growth rate of our economies can be...

1. Make the national labor markets more flexible in order to avoid additional unemployment. 2. Do not Europeanize wage formation. 3. Leave employment a national responsibility. 4. Do not push for a social union. 5. Resist the political demand for transfers. 6. Accept the 'one-size-fits-all'...

The Euroland economy is in a strong upswing. Last year, real GDP increased at a rate roughly equal to that of potential output in spite of the export losses in the wake of the crises in various countries of the world. There have been considerable impulses from monetary policy. Because of the...