http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/http://mediaserver.fxstreet.com/images/fxstreet-provider-logo1-en.gif7http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2013/04/25/Since the start of the global financial crisis, the fear of a currency war has repeatedly reared its head. With domestic demand immersed in a lengthy adjustment process in almost all developed countries, exports have become the sole engine for recovery. Carrying out a competitive devaluation of a currency is therefore particularly tempting. Aware of this, the emerging countries have raised their voices on more than one occasion when their currencies have appreciated. But with good cause? TheThu, 25 Apr 2013 11:54:22 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2013/04/25/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2013/03/19/1.3 billion people are surviving on less than 1.25 dollars a day and all are living in developing countries, alarming figures only partially alleviated by the downward trend despite the crisis in developed countries. Since the early 1980s, 600 million people have managed to escape poverty, reducing the percentage of the world’s population living under extreme conditions from 42% to 19%. To a great extent, this considerable advance has occurred in the main emerging countries, China, India andTue, 19 Mar 2013 09:03:58 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2013/03/19/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2013/02/15/The economic and financial crisis is forcing monetary policy to be reinvented at a fast pace. Record cuts in official interest rates, down to the lowest limit of 0%, were not enough to relieve worrying recessionary situations. Given this situation, the implementation of unconventional stimulus measures went from being a possible but contentious option to an indispensable tool. Broadly speaking, two unconventional types of measures have been implemented: large-scale asset purchases and theFri, 15 Feb 2013 09:06:13 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2013/02/15/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2013/01/18/The first few years of life for the euro coincided with a long cycle of prosperity in Europe. This led to the belief that many of the imbalances existing in several of its member states, notably in the so-called «periphery countries», could be corrected gradually. However, in a very short time the financial crisis that started in 2008 made it clear that this was not the case. The long-forgotten agenda of structural reforms had to be dusted off and implemented speedily, at the same time asFri, 18 Jan 2013 13:16:51 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2013/01/18/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2012/12/18/Several years ago,immersed in controversy over the geopolitical risks presented by the situation in Iraq, the US Secretary of  Defence, Donald Rumsfeld,pronounced some sentences that are often recalled. He said: «There are known knowns; there are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns; that is to say there are things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don’t know». In economic forecasting,it’s appropriateTue, 18 Dec 2012 11:58:20 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2012/12/18/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2012/11/19/House prices seem to be picking up in the United States. Rises have also been seen in Germany. However, the trend in real estate prices is still downward in the industrialized countries of the West. This reflects the bursting of a bubble that particularly affected Ireland, Spain, the United States and United Kingdom and that has had, or is still having, devastating consequences in terms of growth and employment. After this latest experience, the effects of a burst real estate bubble haveMon, 19 Nov 2012 11:22:25 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2012/11/19/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2012/10/19/«This time we need a sustained rebound, not a bounce. If this time is to be different, we need certainty, not uncertainty. We need decision makers to be real action takers. We need delivery». These were the words of Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, in a speech at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Words that clearly express the need to achieve a decisive change in the global crisis. Five years after the Great Recession erupted, the worldFri, 19 Oct 2012 06:31:39 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2012/10/19/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2012/09/18/At the end of June, European leaders undertook to create a banking union and facilitate bail-out funds to directly recapitalize banks, should they need it. The European Commission will soon present its proposal regarding a European supervisory mechanism as part of the development of a route map to strengthen monetary union, which must be urgently studied by the Council of the European Union before the end of 2012. The aim of this integrated financial framework is to put right one of theTue, 18 Sep 2012 06:21:22 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2012/09/18/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2012/07/16/Throughout the boom years that preceded the current economic crisis, the Spanish economy witnessed an extraordinary increase in its current account deficit. As from the end of the 1990s, the surplus gave way to increasing deficits, reaching a peak of 10% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2007. Spain thereby became the second country in the world with the greatest external imbalance in absolute terms, only exceeded by the United States. The economic recession has given rise to an abrupt andMon, 16 Jul 2012 10:47:29 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2012/07/16/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2012/06/18/After its rapid expansion worldwide over the last few years, the insurance industry has become a leading component of the social, economic and financial panorama. By way of example, it is estimated that insurance companies currently manage assets valued at around 23 trillion dollars, far more than twice the total volume of international reserves. This strong development is essentially based on a very dynamic life-savings segment and a growing contribution from the emerging countries.Mon, 18 Jun 2012 07:30:41 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2012/06/18/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2012/05/17/The average size of Spanish firms is smaller than that of other countries with a similar degree of development. According to the Central Company Directory, at 1 January 2011, out of the total 3.25 million firms in Spain, 99.9% were small and medium-sized enterprises; i.e. they employed fewer than 250 salaried workers. Micro-enterprises with fewer than 10 salaried employees accounted for 95.2% of businesses compared with 92.1% in the European Union. Between 2000 and 2010, the total number ofThu, 17 May 2012 07:53:35 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2012/05/17/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2012/05/11/In the years prior to the recession that started in the last decade, in many countries the gradually increasing debt of the private sector allowed for much more intensive economic growth than would have been seen without it. The abrupt appearance of the crisis frustrated this expansion and revealed an excessive level of debt. This debt is now a heavy burden that can counteract the efforts made to exit economic lethargy. Without a significant reduction in this debt, it will be very difficult toFri, 11 May 2012 15:25:13 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2012/05/11/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2012/03/16/Oil prices are on the rise again in the last few weeks of February. This time the reasons are the tough winter in this part of the hemisphere and tensions with Iran. In any case, petrol prices at the pump are reaching record highs. The Fukushima disaster after Japan's earthquake and tsunami last year is starting to fade from the memory but its effects on the public's perception of nuclear energy are unlikely to be erased for a long time yet. Conflicts related to natural gas regarding theFri, 16 Mar 2012 11:41:54 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2012/03/16/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2012/02/16/At the end of the 1950s, the core of what is now the European Union embarked on the path towards creating a common market. From that it went on to a single market and, in the 1990s, the construction of Economic and Monetary Union took shape: closely linked economic integration emphasising the coordination of economic and, most particularly, fiscal policy. The ultimate aim was the creation of a single currency. The start-up of the euro and the founding of the European Central Bank representedThu, 16 Feb 2012 09:40:20 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2012/02/16/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2012/01/17/The delicate economic situation being faced by developed economies is affecting many economic agents. And banks are certainly no exception. Recent tensions and turbulences have been closely related to the financial system. Subprime mortgages, real estate bubbles and rising debt in the non-financial private sector are all significant examples. As a consequence, since 2008 the share prices of European banks have clearly fared worse than those from other sectors. Moreover, the risk premium forTue, 17 Jan 2012 12:46:18 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2012/01/17/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2011/12/21/The year 2011 is taking its leave in the midst of a sense of unease, giving rise to great concerns regarding the course of the economy in 2012. The year that’s ending has confirmed that the recovery will be slower and more irregular than desired due to the complications arising in advanced economies. In emerging economies, on the other hand, although activity has slowed up slightly and this trend might last into the coming year, the rate of growth will still easily exceed 5%. The loss ofWed, 21 Dec 2011 09:52:07 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2011/12/21/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2011/11/21/While advanced economies (North America, Western Europe, Japan) are struggling within a context of low growth, dangerous imbalances in their public accounts and an uncertain economic outlook, the rest of the world is progressing well in terms of growth and improvements in its standard of living. While the rich countries will hardly grow by 1.5% in 2011, the rest will exceed 6%. More or less the same as what has happened in the last decade and what is expected to happen in the coming years. TheMon, 21 Nov 2011 11:24:51 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2011/11/21/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2011/10/20/At the beginning of July 2008, the CRB index, widely used to monitor world trends in commodity prices, reached its highest peak ever. This was when a barrel of crude oil cost close to 150 dollars. Just seven months later, when the severity of the crisis had become evident, the index had lost more than half its value. Crude had fallen by 40 dollars but, from this moment on, it resumed its upward trend, which continued until just recently, halting in the last few weeks. In fact, until a shortThu, 20 Oct 2011 19:11:00 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2011/10/20/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2011/09/19/Greece, Ireland and Portugal have received financial support from the rest of the European Union and from the International Monetary Fund, given their impossibility to access private financing under reasonable conditions. In exchange, they have to apply adjustment plans to sort out their public accounts and get back on the path to growth. Should the economic and financial deterioration of these countries be stopped and reversed, the crisis’s contagion to other members of the euro area shouldMon, 19 Sep 2011 09:06:56 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2011/09/19/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2011/07/19/By 2020 most of the world's consumption will have shifted from west to east If there's one thing that characterizes advanced economies it's an extensive middle class. This group's lifestyle includes aspects such as the benefits of housing, access to educational services and health, the chance to take advantage of retirement, a life that combines moments of leisure (including holiday periods) with others of work, etc. The middle class lifestyle is related to certain levels of income. A recentTue, 19 Jul 2011 10:57:29 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2011/07/19/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2011/06/17/The Spanish Economy: Balance of payments imbalances In the last twenty years there have been sharp increases in current account imbalances at a global level. A country’s external balance of payments, in accounting terms, is balanced; but if we break this down into its two most important components, the current account and the financial account, persistent deficits or surpluses in each of these can be seen in many countries. What’s the problem? Persistent current account deficits mean anFri, 17 Jun 2011 08:30:52 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2011/06/17/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2011/05/16/Given the threat of depression triggered by the global financial crisis, authorities implemented exceptional measures on three fronts: direct support for the financial sector, aggressive easing of monetary policy and discretional fiscal stimuli to sustain aggregate demand. The medicine was appropriate but it had significant adverse effects, including high deficits and public debt that must be reduced as soon as possible. Moreover, in many cases economies have seen their potential growth varyMon, 16 May 2011 12:40:55 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2011/05/16/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2011/04/18/The worldwide economic crisis that erupted in 2007 highlighted the excessive risk accumulated by the financial system as a whole. In previous years, economic expansion had been exceptionally strong and, moreover, took place within a context of low inflation, rock bottom interest rates and ample liquidity. This cocktail explains why the financial system's expansion was more pronounced than in a normal expansionary cycle and also why the degree of leveraging went beyond what was reasonable,Mon, 18 Apr 2011 12:44:02 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2011/04/18/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2011/02/16/Milton Friedman used to say that monetary theory is like a Japanese garden: an apparent simplicity that conceals a sophisticated reality; a surface view that dissolves in ever deeper perspectives... Recently, designers of monetary policy have faced the challenge of a great recession and have gone into unknown territory, attempting to stop economies from collapsing. Only time will tell if they were right or wrong. The most daring design, without doubt, has been that of the Federal Reserve. ItsWed, 16 Feb 2011 12:30:16 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2011/02/16/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2011/01/17/The currency conflict After the Second World War, the victors designed a monetary and global trade system that would help nations to progress based on stable exchange rates and the elimination of barriers to international trade. The authors of this system were very aware of the turbulences that started after the Great Depression of the 1930s, when countries attempted to export their unemployment by achieving trade surpluses with other countries, forced by devaluing their currency andMon, 17 Jan 2011 13:25:32 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2011/01/17/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2010/12/20/Click here to get December's issue. This month, the La Caixa Economic Research Department presents its Outlook for 2011.Mon, 20 Dec 2010 14:06:50 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2010/12/20/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2010/11/18/The health systems of developed countries are facing escalating costs and increasing demand both in terms of quantity and quality. Since the provision of healthcare and health is mainly the responsibility of the public sector in most countries, we can easily imagine the budget tensions caused by the sector, especially at times of spending cuts. So is it possible to achieve excellence in national health systems without breaking the budget? From the perspective of demand, it's not easy to stopThu, 18 Nov 2010 13:06:57 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2010/11/18/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2010/10/18/Sovereign debt crises are probably as old as the very states, empires, kingdoms or federations that chose to fund themselves by issuing debt. One of the most ancient episodes is the default by some of the city states of the Athenian maritime Confederacy back in the 4th century B.C. Much more extensively documented are the crises of the large European nations as from the end of the Middle Ages. Episodes of problems in paying back public debt in foreign hands over the last two hundred years, asMon, 18 Oct 2010 08:42:52 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2010/10/18/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2010/09/20/Hard hit by plummeting demand, threatened by globalization, facing unexpected financial difficulties and tackling a regulatory environment that has often been yet another obstacle, the more than three million small and medium-sized firms in Spain have suffered the worst of the crisis. A difficult time in addition to the customary competitive challenges facing SMEs, forcing entrepreneurs to redouble their efforts in order to navigate such rough waters. Because entrepreneurs make SMEs, theirMon, 20 Sep 2010 17:23:25 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2010/09/20/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2010/07/22/The pursuit of happiness is a constant in the individual and collective history of human beings and this is confirmed by a wealth of popular refrains and sayings. Even the United States Declaration of Independence placed the pursuit of happiness among the rights of man. 25 centuries ago, Aristotle also established the pursuit of happiness as the aim of his philosophical ethics. But what does happiness consist of? There can be many different answers: pleasure, wealth, fame or power; or anThu, 22 Jul 2010 14:11:43 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2010/07/22/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2010/06/17/A diagnosis leaves little to discuss. After the boom that started in the mid-1990s, which enabled a considerable increase in income per capita and employment, the worldwide economic crisis has had the dubious virtue of highlighting the serious weaknesses underlying the high growth in Spanish gross domestic product. Specifically, the private sector's excessive debt has become evident, as well as its subordination to external financing. This dependency has also revealed significant lacks inThu, 17 Jun 2010 15:17:44 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2010/06/17/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2010/05/18/The Greek crisis has sparked off a serious financial and political storm. The unexpected appearance of a much higher than expected deficit in a country whose fiscal situation is about to burst has lead to a tremor whose scope, like the eruption of Iceland's volcano Eyjafjallajokull, goes far beyond the country itself. The very viability of the Monetary Union has been called into question, eleven years after it was born. The question lies in how to handle and prevent a crisis in the euro area.Tue, 18 May 2010 11:21:25 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2010/05/18/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2010/04/26/Goldman Sachs coined the term BRIC in 2001 to refer to the group made up of Brazil, Russia, India and China, countries that were growing at a pace that suggested they would become economic giants in the future. According to the investment bank's study, in ten years their weight in world GDP would increase by 50% and, by the middle of the century, this group would match the group of developed economies. Their level of per capita income would still be considerably below that corresponding toMon, 26 Apr 2010 10:44:10 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2010/04/26/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2010/03/22/On 18 February, half an hour after the markets closed, the Federal Reserve, the US central bank, raised the interest rate of its «discount window» from 0.50% to 0.75%. In its subsequent statement, the Fed insisted that the raise in the rate charged by banks for emergency loans did not imply any change in the outlook for the economy or in its monetary policy. But in actual fact something is changing. A few days earlier, Ben Bernanke, the Fed chairman, had already announced that theMon, 22 Mar 2010 11:39:43 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2010/03/22/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2010/02/15/When a businessman was asked what the term «competitiveness» meant, his reply was simple but accurate: it's the difference between being in or out of the market. In the past, a large array of regulations and economies with much more state intervention meant that not very competitive firms could survive, even with brilliant results. This is no longer possible in market economies that are increasingly more open to international competition and the effort to remain competitive is undoubtedly theMon, 15 Feb 2010 12:46:36 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2010/02/15/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2010/01/20/The dark storm clouds are moving away, barometers are rising and patches of blue are breaking through. So has the good weather arrived? The most serious moments of the worst recession in decades are now behind the international economy. A phase in which catastrophe was almost upon us and we were forced to take measures that had been unthinkable just a short time before. Now economic indicators are already hinting at the end of the worldwide economic crisis but coming out of such a situation isWed, 20 Jan 2010 09:23:05 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2010/01/20/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2009/12/21/At the beginning of this decade, European leaders launched an initiative to adopt a Constitution that would be the culmination of the project to integrate Europe. Valery Giscard d'Estaing headed this project and, in a long drawn-out process that attempted to be participatory and democratic, produced a text that was solemnly signed by all heads of state and government of the countries of the European Union (EU), including the candidate members at that time, Bulgaria and Romania, in OctoberMon, 21 Dec 2009 15:14:28 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2009/12/21/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2009/11/19/The hullaballoo caused by indicators and news on the economic crisis prevents us from hearing a murmur that is faint but will nonetheless play a vital role in how the economy evolves over the next few years. This murmur is caused by the reform of services, a sector that contains around two thirds of the value added of developed economies. At the end of 2006, and after a long, complex negotiation, the European Parliament and the Council passed the Services or Bolkestein Directive, named afterThu, 19 Nov 2009 11:01:44 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2009/11/19/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2009/10/23/Before the crisis there was a broad consensus that the utilization of discretional fiscal policies of a counter-cyclical nature was undesirable as they did not contribute to the stability of the economy and could even have adverse effects. It was better to allow the «automatic stabilizers» to operate. If economic activity was falling, the drop in tax collections and the increase in transfers to individuals (unemployment benefits) would automatically ease the decrease. On the other hand, if theFri, 23 Oct 2009 10:41:10 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2009/10/23/http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2009/09/23/After more than two years of world financial crisis and the biggest recession since the Thirties of last century, we are finally beginning to see the first signs that the worst may now be over. The coming of the crisis awakened the whole world from a dream state in which financial risk was almost irrelevant, liquidity was unlimited, any imbalance was easily sustainable and economic-financial cycles had passed into history. In this state of Nirvana, investors were paying minimum risk premiumsWed, 23 Sep 2009 15:24:52 GMThttp://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/estudios@lacaixa.es (La Caixa)http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/economic-monthly-report/2009/09/23/