This paper reviews the economic and monetary impacts of the creation of the 1979 European Monetary System on the participating countries and shows that they did not meet all the required theoretical criteria for a successful monetary integration process. Despite this handicap, the 1979 monetary...

The question whether the European Monetary System has brought about a reduction in the variability of its members' exchange rates is not a trivial issue since central rates are adjustable and bilateral exchange rates are allowed to move freely within fairly large margins. In this paper I have...