ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates how the United States (US) and Japan managed relatively better than Europe to emerge from the financial crisis, and why instead Europe or more appropriately, the Euro Area (EA) of the European Union (EU), did not. It examines the main policies implemented by the main fiscal and monetary authorities in the US – i.e. the Federal Reserve (Fed), and the Federal Government; in Japan: the Bank of Japan (BoJ) and the Japanese Government; and in Europe: the European Central Bank (ECB) and EA Member State Governments. The chapter tries to understand how in the US and Japan these policies caused some recovery in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) growth and employment, while on the other hand, the same result could not be obtained in Europe. It also proposes a political agenda for the EA, which would favour economic recovery and sustainable development in the next decade.
