The current debate on the European crisis has highlighted the role of fiscal imbalances in explaining the turmoil that has dominated Europe in the past few years. This paper adopts a different point of view by suggesting that intra-European payments imbalances are crucial for the survival of the...

There is a firmly rooted presumption among economists that the greater the interdependence, the larger the externalities generated by unilateral policy-making and therefore the greater the potential gains from coordination. The author demonstrates that despite its intuitively obvious connection...

This paper examines German reunification from its inception. It shows that after the rapid expansion of the early years, former East Germany entered a phase of slow growth that made it impossible to bridge the gap with West Germany. Unemployment remains high, low growth rates appear ingrained,...

This volume presents a panoramic picture of the many national and international trends and developments, factors, customs, and events that have characterised banking in the Mediterranean area over the past two centuries. During this period banking in the Mediterranean evolved distinct...