Suchergebnisse

A critical examination of the EMU from different perspectives. It includes essays on the political economy of currency unions, on the Growth and Stability pact, the European Central Bank, an evaluation of the first four years of the EMU, and the costs and benefits for Sweden as well as for Britain of adopting the euro

AbstractThis article presents a database with the probably most up-to-date and reliable consumer price indices for a large sample of European countries since 1870. The database is a compilation but a contribution by going back to original or ignored works. For some countries, where CPIs have been missing, new provisional indices are constructed, and some are reconstructed for critical periods. The article critically examines historical CPIs in oft-used online databases and uncover some alarming inaccuracies and even fallacies. Despite the importance of accurate CPIs in long-term analyses, previously little effort has been put in assessing the quality and comparability of data between countries. Realism of the CPIs is examined within a framework of economic integration that qualifies received views. Lack of integration of Mediterranean countries before mid-20th century is validated, and contradictory patterns of integration in interwar and postwar Europe uncovered.

AbstractThis article is the first examination of competitive devaluation in the 1930s using data on exchange rates. It analyses the impact of currency changes on foreign trade flows of fourteen industrialized countries 1929–1939. It reviews the development of nominal and real effective exchange rates together with trade and economic growth and conducts a disaggregated analysis of trade and bilateral exchange rates with trade partners. Tests show that the beggar-thy-neighbour effects of exchange rate adjustments were few and temporary. Moreover, it is argued that currency depreciations were expansionary not only for countries that devalued but for the international economy as a whole. This argument draws on Ragnar Nurkse (Nurkse, International currency experience, Lessons of the Inter-War Period. League of Nations, 1944) who undeservingly has been associated with the notion of "competitive devaluation". Nurkse showed that currency depreciations increased global monetary reserves, an observation that has gone remarkably overlooked in the literature.

Führt Bildung zu Wirtschaftswachstum oder ist Wirtschaftswachstum die Vorbedingung von Bildung? Sicher haben wir es hier mit einem kumulativen Prozess zu tun; ob aber eine der beiden Größen als dominant betrachtet werden kann, ist umstritten. Der Verfasser setzt sich mit dieser Frage am Beispiel der Entwicklung Schwedens seit der Industrialisierung auseinander. Er stellt die Entwicklung der Schulpflicht sowie der weiterführenden und höheren Bildung dar. Im Gegensatz zu früheren Forschungsergebnissen ergeben sich hier keine Belege dafür, dass demographische Faktoren für eine Veränderung der Bildungsbeteiligung verantwortlich sind. Gestützt auf eine Längsschnittanalyse vertritt der Verfasser die These, dass die Expansion der höheren Bildung in Schweden seit Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts die Ursache für die Entwicklung der Arbeitsproduktivität im produzierenden Gewerbe und damit für das wirtschaftliche Wachstum war. (ICEÜbers)

1. Introduction: structural analysis and the process of economic development / Jonas Ljungberg -- 2. How it all began : on structural periods / Olle Krantz and Carl-Axel Nilsson -- 3. Identifying and modelling cycles and long waves in economic time series / Fredrik N.G. Andersson -- 4. Development blocks and structural analysis / Josef Taalbi -- 5. The gerschenkron effect, creative destruction and structural analysis / Jonas Ljungberg -- 6. The gold standard and industrial breakthrough in Sweden / Hakan Lobell -- 7. The development of economic growth and inequality among the Swedish regions 1860-2010 : evidence from regional national accounts / Martin Henning and Kerstin Enflo -- 8. Regional analysis and the process of economic development : changes in growth, employment and income / Martin Henning, Karl-Johan Lundquist and Lars-Olof Olander -- 9. Economic environmental history : anything new under the sun? / Astrid Kander.