The recent sovereign debt crisis in Europe, now a Eurozone crisis, has prompted a growing awareness of the disparities in the economic conditions and competitive positions of Eurozone countries. Such disparities are reflected in the accumulation of imbalances to the disadvantage of countries in...

This paper explores the impact of Europe's existing institutional framework on the degree of macroeconomic disparity in the Eurozone. It draws son analysis of the costs of this framework as well as of the benefits of European economic and monetary unification. It also highlights how these costs...