Joachim Scheide

How strong is the case for international coordination

There seems to be a consensus among politicians and economists that economic problems such as high unemployment and inflation can be solved only if economic policies are coordinated on an international scale. The 1987 economic summit at Venice viewed international coordination as essential “to achieving stronger and sustained global growth, reduced external imbalances, and more stable exchange rate relationships.”1 In a similar vein, Helmut Schmidt (1983, p. 24) argued that “the major industrial countries’ policy mix must be coordinated.” The European Community Commission (1986), as well as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (1987a), has recently urged policymakers to implement a cooperative policy action to restore satisfactory macroeconomic performance of the major industrial countries. These calls for more international coordination receive their theoretical underpinnings from the work of a number of economists who argue that by coordinating their policies individual countries can avoid negative spillover effects of uncoordinated sovereign policymaking and take advantage of positive spillover effects. Coordination would allow each country to achieve its economic targets to a greater degree than if it pursued an independent policy stance.2

Die Bedeutung monetärer Größen für die deutsche Wachstumsschwäche 1995-2005

Summary Between 1995 and 2005, the German economy has experienced a phase of weak economic growth. We analyze whether this weak growth performance can be attributed to the stance of monetary conditions during that period. We show that the real effective exchange rate did have almost no dampening effects on growth. On the contrary, the introduction of the euro and the single monetary policy for the euro area seem to have contributed significantly to the low trend growth rate in Germany between 1999 and 2005.

Preisniveaustabilität: Geldmengenregeln auch für unabhängige Notenbanken

Der Kurs der Geldpolitik wird immer kontrovers beurteilt. Dies gilt insbesondere für die jetzige Situation in der Bundesrepublik, aber auch in anderen Ländern, wo die wirtschaftliche Lage Anlaß für viele Beobachter ist, die Notenbanken zu aktivem Handeln aufzufordern (so in den USA, Japan, Großbritannien und Frankreich, um nur einige Beispiele zu nennen). In der öffentlichen Diskussion geht es fast immer nur um ad-hoc Maßnahmen, mit denen akut scheinende Probleme angepackt werden sollen. An der Debatte beteiligen sich auch Notenbanken, um Erfolge, wenn sie denn eintreten, dem eigenen Handeln zuzurechnen oder um andere zur Korrektur ihres Handelns aufzufordern, wenn Mißerfolge offensichtlich sind.