Includes bibliographical references and index.

Print version record and CIP data provided by publisher.

Euro area remains in a state of flux and appears to be unsustainable in its present form. The outcome of the crisis may be unknown for years and a judgement on the project's success or failure may be out of reach for decades. In the meantime, analysts, portfolio managers and traders will still have daily, weekly, quarterly and annual benchmarks. They will have to analyze economic developments in the euro area and their impacts on financial assets. The objective of this book is to provide a framework for that analysis that is comprehensible to most financial market participants. The book begins with a focus on coincident and leading economic indicators for the euro area. The following section looks at euro-area institutions. The next chapter focuses on the euro crisis. It attempts to provide an explanation of its origins and a glimpse of the potential outcomes. In addition, the tools needed to analyze the crisis as it evolves are presented. The last sections provide information unique to the economies of Germany, France, the U.K., Switzerland, Sweden and Norway.

Title; Copyright; Acknowledgements; Chapter 1: Introduction; Chapter 2: Gross Domestic Product; The Expenditure Approach; The Output Method; The Income Method; GNP vs. GDP; Release Schedule; Trend Growth; The Business Cycle; Monetary Conditions Index; Effects of Monetary Policy on GDP; Effects of the Exchange Rate on GDP; Exchange-Rate Deflators; Chapter 3: Coincident Indicators; PMI Surveys; Industrial Production; Chapter 4: Leading Indicators; Financial Conditions Index; The U.S. Business Cycle; ZEW Survey; Ifo Survey; M1 Money Supply Growth; Chapter 5: Inflation Measures

Consumer Price IndexProducer Price Index; Labor Costs; Money Supply; Inflation Expectations; Chapter 6: The European Central Bank; Traffic Light System; Mandate; Two-Pillar Strategy; Monetary Policy Implementation; Intervention in the Currency Markets; Taylor Rule; Chapter 7: Other Institutions; Council of the European Union; European Parliament; European Commission; Ecofin; Eurogroup; European Council; Chapter 8: Euro Crisis; Origins; Optimal Currency Area Theory; Fiscal Consolidation; Quantitative and Qualitative Easing; Government Bond Purchases; Measures of National Solvency

Target2 BalancesResolution; Departure from the Euro Area; Tools for Analyzing Debt Sustainability; Chapter 9: Germany; Labor Market; Political Institutions; Political Parties; Chapter 10: France; Chapter 11: United Kingdom; The Bank of England; Quantitative Easing; GDP; Inflation Measures; House Prices; Political Institutions; Chapter 12: Switzerland; The Swiss National Bank; KOF Leading Indicator; Chapter 13: Sweden; Chapter 14: Norway; Bibliography; Index