Vom Bancor zum Euro: Und weiter zum Intor?

The current paper analyses the similarities between the Bretton Woods system (BWS) and the Eurozone and looks into the future of the world monetary system. The gold standard, the Keynes Plan and the White Plan are identified as the most important sources of ideas that formed the BWS. Although Keynes was not particularly successful in Bretton Woods, his plan played a decisive role later on in the critique of the BWS as well as in the design of the European Monetary System. Either system was based on the concept of fixed exchange rates which were seen as more apt for international economic relations than flexible rates. In the BWS, fixed rates were seen to be achieved by coordinating economic policies of member states and by sporadic realignments of exchange rates. In the Eurozone, only policy coordination is available to fulfil this function. The favourable experience made so far with the euro may be utilised for monetary integration in other parts of the world. The Eurozone is also considered good practice for any reform of the international monetary system. Given the diverging political and economic goals of the major currency blocks, it may be questioned, however, whether the success of the euro also furthers the idea of developing a single world currency

Vom EWS zum Euro: DM und Schilling Hand in Hand

Die wirtschaftlichen Zusammenhänge rund um das Entstehen des europäischen Währungssystems bilden den Hintergrund für eine Untersuchung der Parallelen und Unterschiede in der Währungspolitik Deutschlands und Österreichs. Dabei wird auf die Hauptlinien des Ringens um die währungspolitische Integration in Europa, die zwischen Deutschland und Frankreich verlaufen sind, ebenso eingegangen wie auf die Bedeutung der DM für die Währungspolitik Europas und Österreichs. Im Vergleich zur aktiven Rolle Deutschlands spielte Österreich im europäischen Währungsgeschehen zwar nur eine passive Rolle, es brachte aber seine Erfahrungen mit der Hartwährungspolitik ein und leistete damit einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Stabilität des Gesamtsystems. In diesem Zusammenhang wird auch die Frage aufgeworfen, wie stabil das Europäische Währungssystem ist und welchen Risken es in Zukunft ausgesetzt sein könnte.The focus of this paper is on the similarities and differences of German and Austrian monetary and exchange rate policies, which are analysed against the background of the economic forces which eventually resulted in the creation of the European Monetary Union. The frontline of the struggle for achieving monetary integration in Europe ran between Germany and France, which enhances the role of the DM as an anchor currency not just for Austria, but for Europe at large. In contrast to the very active role of Germany in the monetary integration process, Austria remained virtually passive. However, utilising its experience with a hard currency policy, Austria made an essential contribution to the stability of the system as a whole. Given a history of just a few years, the stability of, and the future risks for, the European monetary system are elaborated

Das oeffentliche Auftragswesen im gesamtwirtschaftlichen Zusammenhang

This paper, written in German language, deals with public procurement policies in the European Union in an overall economic context. Public sector contracts for goods and services make up about one sixth of Community GDP. Governments of all levels tend to rely on local firms when extenting delivery contracts. This may be in conflict with the rules of the EU internal market which, for larger contracts, request competition among bidders. The current essay discusses the possible tensions between competition in the market and the regulation of public procurement. Public contracts have been used to implement additional policy goals, such as social and environmental aspects or to aid small business. The latter goal is often blurred by the tendency to centralise procurement in order to increase the market power of public demand. In general, such a mix of goals may reduce the efficiency of procurement policy.public procurement, EU internal market, public demand and competition

Fostering a Dynamic and Stable Neighborhood for Europe

Europe is less dynamic than other areas in the world. The European Union will lose its position as the largest economic region, with the share in world output decreasing to less than 15% in 2050. This article designs a strategy based on which Europe can increase its internal dynamics, connect with its dynamic neighborhood and stabilize its eastern and southern regions. These regions are currently searching for development paths different from those in the US and China. The envisaged strategy learns from past errors, counteracts "my country first calls", balances uneven trade and investment pacts, and prevents land and resource grabbing. A new partnership strategy with neighbors in Eurasia, the Middle East and Africa will enable Europe to overcome its growth fatigue. It could help to reshape globalization and convert the current "ring of fire" into a "ring of friends". Then, together with its neighbors, Europe could still be an important economic region in 2050, on par with China and larger than the US plus its neighbors

The size and performance of public sector activities in Europe

The obvious difference in the economic performance of countries has led to the question why some countries are so much wealthier than others, and whether the size, the structure, and the organisation of the public sector contribute to cross-country income and growth gaps. Public sector activities may have an effect on overall productivity and growth either directly by the level and changes of productivity within the public sector, or indirectly by triggering off productivity changes in private production. This paper is concerned with the former aspect. It provides an overview of the size and the structure of the public sector in Europe and compares it with the US and Japan. This is related to the more recent empirical literature on public sector performance. After reviewing some of the measurement issues related to public services, the evidence on the size of government and its performance is analysed. The results on industrial countries are not fully conclusive, but seem to attribute more efficiency to smaller rather than to larger governments. Public sector reforms to consolidate the size of government are therefore likely to enhance the sector's own productivity and thereby positively contribute to overall economic performance.public sector size, performance of public sector

European Identity Politics

Social and political sciences use the term ‘identity’ in describing a wide range of phenomena, whether these be personal explanations of self-understanding, descriptions of common interests or the shared experiences of a larger group. It has been used in the recent analyses of countries or larger communities, but also in the historical studies of very different societies in developing or industrialized countries. To make the concept more operational and open to empirical research, we dichotomize it into an inclusive versus an exclusive type. This enables us to carve out the different policy conclusions associated with each type. We then apply the concepts for analysing the emergence of European identity over the past decades, as well as its limits and recent headwinds. We present survey data on national and supranational identity and country differences concerning trust in national and European institutions. As a counter-strategy to populism and the exclusive type of identity, political observers, from scientists to members of the media, are split into suggesting either a "cordon sanitaire" to discourage voting for such ideas versus an embracement strategy by including their representatives into government, thereby controlling them or revealing their incompetence. This paper, in contrast, ventures a proactive strategy of four steps to localize the root causes of the success of populism, offering an inclusive vision for the long run, policy instruments for economic improvements and a new narrative

Economic links between education and migration: An overview

Among the many factors governing migration, education plays a major role, though more in the long run than for short-term floods particularly of irregular migration. Concerning the long run effects, the direction of causation and the slope of the connection are debated in theory. Education not only determines the mobility of people, it also is positively correlated with rising incomes. Empirical evidence shows that for people in developing countries, who are at the low end of the income distribution, more education and rising income levels are push factors for emigration. However, beyond a certain threshold further rising incomes tend to retard migration. As a result, education exhibits an inverted-U shaped relationship with migration. Another remarkable fact is that, on average, people who migrate are better educated than non-migrants back home as well as indigenous people in the host country

Structural reforms in the candidate countries and the European Union

This volume contains the proceedings of a round-table discussion on the consequences of EU enlargement on structural economic policies in East and West. The discussion was based on a report of the Working Group on Enlargement of the EU's Economic Policy Committee (EPC). In the light of the Lisbon agenda, the report asserts that in candidate countries (CCs) the progress in structural and institutional reforms has not been consistently strong across all countries and areas. In most CCs there is scope to further improve the functioning of product markets and to accelerate the transition to a knowledge-based economy. It is crucial to maintain the reform momentum, also in case of temporary lower growth performance, to avoid any risk of jeopardising the overall target of structural reform

Revamping Policy Governance in Austria: The EU’s impact 25 years on

This contribution reviews some economic governance aspects of the EU’s 1995 enlargement. The focus is on selected fields of internal market pertinence in Austria compared with Finland and Sweden. The analysis starts with an overview of Austria’s initial position and reviews the instruments of EU economic governance at the time, including fiscal rules and instruments. The central part of the paper is devoted to the adjustments required to comply with the gradual completion and refinement of the internal market. Special attention is given to competition policy and public procurement. Overall, economic governance in Austria was significantly “modernized” in the course of approaching and implementing EU membership. Although this contributed to a sustained improvement in competitiveness, Austria was in many respects lagging behind the comparative performances of Finland and Sweden

The eurozone: piecemeal approach to an optimum currency area

Soon after the establishment of the Eurozone it became obvious that the structural differences between member states would not abate, as expected, but rather gradually widen. Although part of the problem can be attributed to the enlargement process, it also relates to asymmetric effects of the common currency and to diverging economic policies. This paper discusses the literature which associates the economic characteristics of EMU with arguments of the optimum currency area (OCA) theory and asks for missing capstones that would meliorate EMU to eventually resemble an OCA. As potential candidates for such building blocks, some sort of fiscal union and lender of last resort may qualify, drawing on the experiences of other currency unions and federal states. The financial and debt crisis has revealed that the endogenous forces within a currency union may be too slow to absorb the shocks originating from the crisis. For a currency union to survive in such a situation it is all the more important that the OCA criteria are met and/or that complementary institutions are in place. However, as actual developments in the Eurozone reveal, the political process of approaching an OCA is piecemeal rather than comprehensive and prompt