The welfare state was created after 1950 with counterproductive mechanisms and this caused high inflation and high unemployment and stagnating growth by 1970, called stagflation. Since 1970 governments redressed the welfare state but did not succeed in finding workable mechanisms. They rather...

Abstract The monetary policy, especially the American one, can be blamed for the remote role (2002-2004) it played in the creation of the speculative bubble which led to a financial crisis. It also has a part of the responsibility through its restrictive direction during the 2004-2006 period;...

The economic crisis has seen central banks turn to some rather innovative practices in order to deal with the great recession. In particular, the Federal Reserve in the USA has made considerable use of what has been called 'quantitative easing'. This practice marked a great departure from...

The financial and economic crisis that has been devastating a number of countries in the world since its outbreak in 2007-2008 originates in the currently still dominant paradigm in both finance and economics. The contributions selected for this special issue explain collectively that the only...