Recent public debate on the costs and benefits of EU membership has focused more on the costs and less on the benefits. This paper explores the benefits from improved regulatory or policy implementation and enforcement. If actual regulatory enforcement differs from the socially optimal level,...

The date of entry of Spain and Portugal into the European Community is drawing ever nearer. What are the likely economic consequences of the integration into the EC of these Southern European countries, whose level of development is quite different from that of the other members? The experience...

We find the litmus test is whether governments gain access to a safe source of funding in a ‘domestic’ currency. Of the list of solutions considered, both Purple bonds and E-bonds can meet this criterion.

In its present set-up, the EMU could be expected to follow its historical predecessor, the Latin Monetary Union, which was founded in 1865 and in effect ended in 1914. Then as now, it was impossible to coerce sovereign states to follow the rules needed to establish a single currency.

The lesson from previous episodes of trade reform is in part a story of political framing as well as a story of compensatory deals. Countries can calculate that they might lose out on the solution to one of the issues but gain on another.