Instead, central banks will take a broad interest in the many different appearances and functions of money. Evolutions like the rise of local currencies or the emergence of digital money such as privately issued cryptocurrencies will certainly not go unnoticed.
In the services sector, labour productivity growth has remained subdued, with an annual rate of growth of only 0.6% in the second quarter of 2006. Nevertheless, these recent developments may turn out to be the initial signs of an overall improvement of the euro area’s productivity performance. What are the policy implications of the observed recent improvement in productivity growth in the euro area?