access to capital. by the mid - 17th century, the city of amsterdam had risen to be the center of international finance and trade, the cradle of modern financial architecture. in amsterdam were the first public company with limited liabilities, the first stock exchange, and one of the ancestors of the modern central bank. and one more key interaction between the ict and finance : the printing press assisted newspapers to become an important route of transmission for the timely distribution of the information necessary for active trading of shares and many commodities. 4 this, in turn, further widened access to capital. these innovations were embodied in the rise of the dutch east - india company. starting in 1602, the company's share was traded freely on the city's first stock exchange and later, limited liability was admitted for major shareholders. combining ample capital with advanced maritime technologies, the company expanded its business throughout asia. robert m. solow, " we'd better watch out, " new york times book review july 12 ( 1987 ). for japan's study, see takuji fueki and takuji kawamoto, " does information technology raise japan's productivity?, " japan and the world economy vol. 21, no. 4 ( 2009 ) : 325 - 336 ; and for the u. s.'s study, see robert j. gordon, the rise and fall of american growth : the u. s. standard of living since the civil war ( princeton : princeton university press, 2016 ). jeremiah e. dittmar, " information technology and economic change : the impact of the printing press, " quarterly journal of economics vol. 126, no. 3 ( 2011 ) : 1133 - 1172. for details, see peter burke, a social history of knowledge : from gutenberg to diderot ( polity, 2000 ). there is another story. the company was particularly important for japan because it was the only western organization allowed to operate under the tokugawa shogunate's national seclusion policy. the company's sole trading post was confined in a fan - shaped, man - made island called " dejima " in the bay of nagasaki. the island, which was only the size of two football pitches, functioned as a solitary yet robust information hub to maintain the flow of ideas between japan and the west for more than 200 years. people in japan studied imported books and digested technologies from the west. employees of the company wrote books on what they learned in

mojmir hampl : the euro – the case of the european monetary integration project and its former hegemon speech by mr mojmir hampl, vice governor of the czech national bank, at the mont pelerin society annual conference, prague, 4 september 2012. * * * many thanks to the organizers for their kind invitation – i ’ m really honoured to speak on such a distinguished panel. but excuse me first for making a small detour : the organizers forgot to mention in my cv that i also had the honour – together with a group of distinguished colleagues ( some of whom are here today ) – to help launch laissez faire here 14 years ago. this is a magazine devoted to the promotion of liberal / libertarian ideas in the czech public domain ( “ liberal ” not in the american sense of this word ). such libertarianism is rather unusual intellectual equipment for a poor central banker, especially in the current times. however, i very much believe it is an advantage, and many of the ideas mentioned in laissez faire are very much missing from normal european policy debates. what a shame. but back to the topic : what is the euro? as barry eichengreen demonstrated, it is a really unique animal, a unique monetary arrangement. i do not buy into many of barry eichengreen ’ s ideas, but i do agree with this particular statement. why? here is my definition of the euro. it is a “ currency without a state ”, in which a group of fiscally sovereign countries shares a single currency and a single central bank issuing fiat paper money, yet evidently lacks a clear monetary hegemon. so the euro is not just a different version of the gold standard, as balczerowicz, de soto and many others argue. not least because of the fact that unlike any commodity standard, the euro lacks anything resembling an ultimate numeraire. and more importantly, within the eurozone germany is not a monetary hegemon anymore. yes, the german mark and the bundesbank were clear monetary hegemons in western europe in the pre - euro era. and remember, it was argued that the euro would become “ the german mark for the whole of europe ” in the many public debates that went on in germany prior to its introduction. yet it is evident that it could not and cannot function in this way. yes, monetary unification in europe does not make much sense without germany. this is still true. but