The present issue puts a special focus on two topics. There is a first special focus with four contributions on »Global imbalances« in the Forum section. Sebastian Dullien's contribution is concerned with divergences in the Euro area, whereas Dorothee Bohle analyses the economic problems of...

First paragraph: Charles Goodhart, you studied economics at Cambridge and Harvard. What was your motivation to become an economist and was there anyone whose ideas and attitude impressed you most?

Erster Absatz: Im Gefolge der Finanzkrise wird auch die unfreiwillige Erwerbslosigkeit in Deutschland wieder – vermutlich sogar erheblich – ansteigen. Es ist deshalb von erneuter Aktualität und Dringlichkeit, einen genaueren kritischen Blick auf die Gesamtwirkungen der Arbeitslosigkeit zu...

First paragraph: Ten years after the introduction of the euro, the question of economic divergence has gained new prominence. While immediately after the introduction of the euro, skeptical voices about the young currency's sustainability fell silent, the debate first reemerged in the years...

First paragraph: Not all that long ago, the East European newcomers to the European Union (EU) were considered economic miracles which successfully weathered the storms of transformation from socialism, and were ready to settle on stable democratic capitalist development paths. It was even...

First paragraph: After the start of reform in 1978 China became one of the most successful developing countries in the world economically. China did not follow the philosophy of neoclassical development models upheld by the Washington Consensus and the savings-gap model. In fact, the Chinese...

First paragraph: The prospects for world trade, the motor of growth for many countries for almost a decade, are discouraging especially during a time the global economy is enduring a recession. Since the summer of 2007, trade declined and was exacerbated when trade finance became difficult to...

First paragraph: The contributions in this special issue on inflation targeting were presented at the Spring Seminar of the Post Keynesian Economics Study Group (PKSG) held at Balliol College, Oxford (UK) in April 2008. PKSG was founded in 1988 by Philip Arestis and Victoria Chick. The purpose...

Books reviewed: Schettkat, Ronald/Langkau, Jochem (Hg.) (2007): Aufschwung für Deutschland. Plädoyer international renommierter Ökonomen für eine bessere Wirtschaftspolitik, Bonn Roncaglia, Alessandro/Sylos Labini, Paolo (2008): Geschichte des ökonomischen Denkens. Eine kurze Einführung,...

Nearly all contributions to this issue deal with the current financial and economic crisis and its effects – in one way or another. Herbert Walther's contribution to the Forum on economic policy after the crisis serves as an introduction. A Special Symposium in the Forum section is also...