Introduction: Miracles, Mirages and Markets

Abstract

Europe entered the 1990s with high unemployment but high expectations. Unemployment, which had nearly doubled to 10 percent in the European Union (EU) in 1978-88, was abating, falling back to 8.1 percent by 1991. Maastricht, the Single European Act and currency union promised to create a true continental market and help reduce unemployment further. And while most economies were sliding into recession at the beginning of the 1990s, the usual business cycle could not but help revive employment and growth over the coming decade.