Following the economic and political reforms international private capital started flowing into the emerging market economies of Central and Eastern Europe reducing the official capital flows to the region. The composition of private capital flows showed continuous dominance of direct equity...

The nineties has been a period of increasing migratory flows from less developed countries to industrialized nations. It is instructive to compare the two largest economies in the world, the European Union and the United States, in terms of the magnitude, trends and composition of their...

This paper locates the collapse of East German communism in Marxist-Leninist monetary theory. By exploring the economic and cultural functions of money in East Germany, it argues that the communist party failed to reconcile its ideological aspirations ­ a society free of the social alienation...

Now that the decision has been taken to admit to the European Union eight of what were once called the transition economies, attention has naturally turned to whether these countries should also join Europe’s monetary union. But where is a consensus that joining the EU, while posing...

On January 1st, Europe’s monetary union will celebrate its fifth anniversary. Congratulations are not exactly pouring in. For going on two years, growth in the countries of the Euro Area has been significantly slower than in the United States. Unemployment over much of the continent...

This paper reviews the controversy over Europe’s Stability and Growth Pact and offers a proposal for its reform. It argues that Europe would be best served by focusing on the fundamental causes of unsustainable debts — public enterprises that are too big to fail, unfunded public...

While empirical research in the tradition of the classical optimum currency area theory, inspired by Mundell (1961), has stressed the costs of a common currency ("Mundell I"), the later and less well-known contribution of Mundell (1973) high- lights the benefits that arise from the risk-sharing...

The paper examines the 1947 monetary stabilization in Italy, tracing the domestic and international political dynamics that allowed ideas and theoretical concepts developed within the Bank of Italy to be applied in a successful action to subdue spiraling inflation. The combination of events and...

In the process of globalization, international convergence of competition legislation has steadily gained importance. Yet, specific aspects of European history gave capital markets, corporate governance and competition policies a special flavor. Historically grown peculiarities have to be taken...

The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 remains one of the biggest urban disasters in American history. This paper gives a comprehensive overview of how the city coped with the immediate consequences of the catastrophe and quickly rebuilt. It analyzes the tense political situation of San Francisco...