This 1991 book is a selection of Jacques Drèze's work over the last decade on the topics of lasting unemployment, stagflation and unused capacity. At the theoretical level, the author has contributed to the formulation and analysis of general equilibrium models which allow for price rigidities and excess supply and lend themselves to econometric implementation, thus represents an attempt to integrate micro- and macroeconomics, and to use theory for empirical and policy purposes.

This report by the European Union Committee examines the progress of the European Union in initiating a strategy for jobs and growth across the Community as a whole. The background to this report stems from the Spring European Council meeting in 2000, in Lisbon, and the launch of an economic reform agenda. The Committee observes that since the "Lisbon Agenda", little progress has been made and the performance of many of the larger European economies has been poor. The Committee has noted that certain worrying signs of protectionist behaviour have developed, especially regarding barriers of cross border mergers. The EU has recognized this weak performance and the Agenda was relaunched in 2005, with a greater focus on the key economic priorities of more growth and jobs. Also, all Member States are now required to produce an annual National Action Plan highlighting the policies being pursued to improve economic growth and increase employment. The Committee sets out a number of recommendations to further push forward the priorities of growth and jobs, including: that the Commission should seek to complete the progress towards an internal market; that Member States should influence one another in the development of good practice through statistical comparison of their economic progress, and agree on quantifiable targets; that the format of the National Action Plans should include not only the successes, but where countries are underperforming; that the Agenda be given a higher public profile.

Over the past decade European economic integration has seen considerable institutional success, but the economic performance of the EU has been varied. While macroeconomic stability has improved and an emphasis on cohesion preserved, the EU economic system has not delivered satisfactory growth performance. This book is the report of a high-level group commissioned by the President of the European Commission to review the EU economic system and propose a blueprint for an economic system capable of delivering faster growth along with stability and cohesion. It assesses the EU s economic performance, examines the challenges facing the EU in the coming years, and presents a series of recommendations. The report views Europe's unsatisfactory growth performance during the last decades as a symptom of its failure to transform into an innovation-based economy. It has now become clear that the context in which economic policies have been developed has changed fundamentally over the past thirty years. A system built around the assimilation of existing technologies, mass production generating economics of scale, and an industrial structure dominated by large firms with stable markets and long term employment patterns no longer delivers in the world of today, characterized by economic globalization and strong external competition. What is needed now is more opportunity for new entrants, greater mobility of employees within and across firms, more retraining, greater reliance on market financing, and higher investment in both R&D and higher education. This requires a massive and urgent change in economic policies in Europe.

The Fading Miracle provides a lucid account of economic policy in West Germany from the late 1940s up to the present. First published in hardback in 1992, this paperback edition has been updated to include events since then. The authors describe and evaluate the major policy controversies and decisions, and place particular emphasis on the characteristically German institutions of policy counselling and their role in policy formation. The book will be of interest to students and teachers of economics, and to all those with an interest in the development of the greatest economic power in Europe.

The European Union and National Macroeconomic Policy examines the way in which the European Union has affected autonomy in the macro-economic policy making of the member states.