Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Boxes
- Contributors
- Abbreviations and acronyms
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Towards a new architecture for financial stability in Europe
- Part I The experience of the crisis
- Part II Accession to the euro area
- Part III The future of the euro area
- 11 Why the current account may matter in a monetary union: lessons from the financial crisis in the euro area
- 12 National fiscal rules within the EU framework
- 13 The road to better resolution: from bail-out to bail-in
- 14 Financial stability and monetary policy: lessons from the euro area
- 15 Is there a case for price-level targeting?
- 16 Heterogeneity in the euro area and why it matters for the future of the currency union
- 17 The euro area: how to regain confidence?
- 18 How to regain confidence in the euro area?
- 19 How to save the euro? Lessons from the US
- Index
- References
17 - The euro area: how to regain confidence?
from Part III - The future of the euro area
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 October 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Boxes
- Contributors
- Abbreviations and acronyms
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Towards a new architecture for financial stability in Europe
- Part I The experience of the crisis
- Part II Accession to the euro area
- Part III The future of the euro area
- 11 Why the current account may matter in a monetary union: lessons from the financial crisis in the euro area
- 12 National fiscal rules within the EU framework
- 13 The road to better resolution: from bail-out to bail-in
- 14 Financial stability and monetary policy: lessons from the euro area
- 15 Is there a case for price-level targeting?
- 16 Heterogeneity in the euro area and why it matters for the future of the currency union
- 17 The euro area: how to regain confidence?
- 18 How to regain confidence in the euro area?
- 19 How to save the euro? Lessons from the US
- Index
- References
Summary
Athanasios Orphanides in his opening keynote address affirmed that the global crisis revealed fault lines in the governance of the euro area. He concentrated on the new architecture for financial stability in Europe. In my brief contribution I want to focus on fiscal sustainability and budget discipline.
Demographic transition, the global crisis and debt levels
Before focusing on the specific case of the euro area I want to comment very briefly on a crucial evolutionary driver that will shape budgetary trends for the next several decades: demographics. The world is experiencing a fundamental demographic transition: according to the latest demographic projections, made available by the United Nations (2009), world population will stop growing by 2050, when it will have reached about 9 billion people (compared to almost 7 billion in 2010). This will interrupt a trend of pronounced population growth recorded for centuries. This constitutes an epochal transition, with profound impacts on economic, political and social balances.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Euro Area and the Financial Crisis , pp. 329 - 334Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011