10 Years of Euro: Success?

Economic landscape undoubtedly changed in the last year or so. The “great moderation” gave way to a "great recession”. Whatever the causes for this turn in short term economic fortunes of many nations, one surmises that many trends and dynamics (so called fundamentals) observed in many world economies in the last decade still exist, albeit hidden in the avalanche of economic news in the last several months. As the Czech economist Karel Kouba pointed out more than 40 years ago, economies are not gymnasiums – jumps, sharp turns and rollovers are the trade of politicians and journalists.