Regional systems of governance may resolve some of the dilemmas of global financial integration, and the eurozone is among the most advanced examples of attempts to do so. This paper argues that the recent Euroland sovereign debt crisis is a test of this proposition, and the outcome leaves the...

This paper provides empirical evidence on the determinants of foreign ownership in manufacturing industries. Foreign ownership, according to the theory of international production, is the result of the combination of comparative and competitive advantage. An adequate examination of the ownership...

This paper discusses the conditions under which currency unions would be desirable and viable. We discuss and present new empirical evidence concerning the operation of existing currency unions in federal states and among regional country groupings. In particular, we examine the traditional...

In this paper we solve a particular type of stochastic process switching problem where the terminal date is fixed but the terminal price may depend on past prices. We apply this framework to the effect of various conversion modalities currently discussed on exchange rate dynamics in the...

This paper analyses the constraints European Union law places on the 1 January 1999 choices of irrevocably fixed conversion rates between the euro and the currencies of EMU members states. Current EU legislation, notably the Maastricht Treaty, requires that the bilateral currency conversion...

The paper provides SVAR estimates for four open economies: the UK, Canada, Sweden and Denmark, making explicit a monetary policy reaction function and taking account of exchange rate targeting practices. The object of the analysis is to examine the idea that an independent money and exchange...

In the first decade of its existence the EMS passed through three phases of realignments: full accommodation, partial accommodation and zero accommodation of inflation differentials. To what extent, however, does the new freedom of capital movements within the EC rule out such gradual...

In this paper we analyse the use of inflation targeting as a device to facilitate inflation convergence of countries outside EMU to the EMU-inflation rate, and compare it with exchange rate pegging. We find that inflation targeting suffers from a similar credibility problem as a policy of...

In this paper we analyse the effects of different decision rules in the ECB on monetary stability. We consider a model where asymmetric shocks and divergent propagation of shocks on output and inflation are potential causes of tensions within the ECB concerning the conduct of monetary (interest...

The paper reviews and evaluates in a non-technical manner the economic and political arguments for and against the two fiscal convergence criteria written into the Treaty of Maastricht and its Protocols. In order to qualify for full membership in Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), net general...