In many developing and developed countries, government debt stabilization is an important policy issue. This paper models the strategic interaction between the monetary authorities who control monetization and the fiscal authorities who control primary fiscal deficits. Government debt dynamics...

The replacement of national currencies by a common currency in the EMU causes a monetary externality if the European Central Bank is inclined to monetize part of outstanding government debt in the community.High government debt in one part of the EU then increases the common inflation rate.We...

This paper explores how decentralized, national fiscal policies interact with a common monetary policy in a monetary union. We show that fiscal policy plays a more important ro le in stabilizing country-specific shocks than with national monetary policies. Whereas monetary u nification with an...

Macroeconomic performance in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) will be impaired if macroeconomic shocks are largely asymmetric, fiscal policy flexibility is limited, goods markets adjust sluggishly, labour mobility is low and automatic stabilization from federal taxes and government spending...

This paper outlines some issues regarding the interaction of independent fiscal authorities and one central bank in the European monetary union.It points out the possibilities for coordination failures,ranging everywhere from potentially excessive deficits and free-riding problems to...

This paper explores under what conditions a European Monetary Union (EMU) is an optimum currency area. The scope for an EMU increases with convergence of structural and fiscal policies, small money holdings, a conservative European Central Bank, and dependent national central banks. How national...

We show that, with benevolent policymakers and fiscal leadership, monetary unification reduces inflation, taxes and public spending. These disciplining effects of a monetary union, which rise with the number of fiscal players in the union, are likely to raise welfare. Joining an optimally...