As early as 2010, at the outset of the sovereign debt crisis, Daniel Gros and Thomas Mayer argued that Europe needed a European Monetary Fund (EMF). In the meantime, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) has been created, which performs the function of an EMF. It was critical in containing the...

This study reviews developments in the European Monetary System from the beginning of 1983 to August 1986; it updates and complements an earlier study prepared by staff members of the International Monetary Fund and published Occasional Paper No. 19, which covered the time period from the inception...

In recent years, the European Commission (EC) turned its attention to 'innovative financial instruments´, defined as instruments that are complementary to grants or subsidies, as part of a move towards a smarter 'funding mix´. Those instruments, in the form of loans, equity, quasi-equity and...

Die Weltwirtschaft wächst seit einiger Zeit deutlich langsamer als früher. Die wirtschaftliche Dynamik bleibt hinter den Erwartungen zurück. Holger Zemanek, Bundesministerium der Finanzen, sieht, zumindest für Deutschland, keinen besorg­niserregenden, strukturellen Abwärtstrend bei den...

The paper analyses the reasons for Japan's persistently low inflation since the bursting of the Japanese bubble economy (low inflation conundrum). It is shown that Japan experienced a structural break from a high-growth period with relatively high inflation to a low-growth period with...

Für Thomas Mayer, Deutsche Bank, erscheint es sinnvoll, dass die EZB den Leitzins auf sein neutrales Niveau hochführt. Noch wichtiger für die Wahrung der Stabilität des Euro wäre es aber, dass sich die EZB aus der Finanzierung von durch Insolvenz bedrohten Staaten und ihren Banken...