Wirtschaftspolitik Zwischen Spekulation Und Rezession (Economic Policy between Speculation and Recession)

Abstract

The Great Recession has triggered an ongoing discussion on its causes and on the conditions to avoid future crises. Although the international community has considered a number of improvements in the area of policy coordination and regulation of financial markets, the implementation of such measures has been slow and watered down by intervention from various interest groups. As the unfolding debt problems in Europe reveal, the crisis is by far not resolved. The Eurozone has proven to be just a fair weather system which is lacking a long-term stability mechanism and is thus not fit to withstand a major crisis. The paper argues that a reformed system will need on the European level a stringent fiscal coordination mechanism as well as an effective adjustment mechanism to avoid gross divergences in the development of national and regional competitiveness. Otherwise the Eurozone would end up as a transfer union, a vision which is currently repudiated by most political circles.

Note: Downloadable document is in German.

Keywords: Financial crisis, Great Recession, Great Depression

JEL Classification: E44, E58, E65