Monetary System and European Monetary Union

This book deals with the problems and changes in the European and Worldwide Monetary System. "Kondratieff cycles and the Monetary System" and "Critique of the European Monetary Union" were completed in 2019, i.e. before the corona crisis. "Hyperinflation in the Euro Area" can be read as a possible reaction to the Corona crisis. The first article deals with the very long economic cycles in history. The focus is on the connection between economic cycles and the monetary system. This relationship has so far been analyzed very little in the literature. As a result, according to the Kondratieff cycle model by Carlota Perez, a connection between the change of the monetary system and the Kondratieff cycles could be found. The forecast is that there will be another change in the monetary system between 2025 and 2030. According to the Perez model, the sixth Kondratieff will begin during this time. In the second essay, the criticism of the European Monetary Union is examined. The work is subdivided into the arguments of criticism from the various economic perspectives (neoclassical, ordoliberalism, Keynesianism, other heterodox economists). One can also distinguish between the criticism of European and non-European economists. The third article examines the question of whether hyperinflation can occur in the Euro Area due to the monetary expansion of the ECB. The latter is only very likely if the European Monetary Union should collapse. However, it could be that individual countries (Italy, Spain) exit the Euro Area due to a referendum. Then the risk of devaluation of those currencies and the Euro would increase and thus higher inflation rates would be expected.