*  *  Introduction: macroeconomic crisis and long-run fundamentals  I am honored and thrilled to participate in this conference commemorating the 75th anniversary of the publication of Keynes’ General Theory. In particular, being an academic-turned-central banker, the opportunity to participate in this panel on policy responses to macroeconomic crisis, is a great privilege.
In the years that followed the introduction of the euro, the crisis-hit countries at first experienced vibrant economic growth. In fact, in many of today’s problem countries, the booming economy masked the fact that their competitiveness was waning. By contrast, ten years ago, Germany was referred to as the “sick man of Europe”, and there were good reasons for that sobriquet.