The third stage of the Economic and Monetary Union will start on January 1st, 1999, at which point the currencies of the participating countries will be irrevocably fixed as the prelude to the introduction of the euro by 2002. Although the European System of Central Banks’ objective is...

Since 1974 Chile has experienced a radical and thorough process of restructuring. An examination is undertaken of the impact of the liberalisation of international transactions on the industrial sector in Chile during the period 1974 to 1987. Particular attention is focused on the way this...

Recent progress towards the construction of the European Union slowed down a little with the exchange rate problems of 1992 and 1993. Central elements in the construction strategy are extending the internal market and building institutions with government functions at the supranational level. A...

The work examines how the irrevocably fixed conversion rates for the currencies of countries participating in the EMU can be set. The authors recall the few provisions delineated in the Maastricht Treaty before examining the wide set of options available. If there are currencies in the ECU...

The convergence criteria specified in the Maastricht Treaty on government deficit and debt, inflation, the exchange rate and the long-term interest rate will play an important, if not decisive, role in determining which countries move on to the third stage of the Economic and Monetary Union...

Despite its promising start in 1946-47, the new IMF soon ceased to fulfil its expected role for almost nine years. An exploration is provided for the latter in the wider context of international economic cooperation. It was not until 1961 that the Fund's intended status as 'the focal point of...

The work adopts an old Keynesian perspective to evaluate the EMU. Such a perspective raises concerns with the effectiveness of monetary policy, the feasibility of monetary policy, and the political economy of monetary policy. The EMU brings with it institutional lock-in, and therefore needs to...

The goals of multilateral trade negotiations under the auspices of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (the GATT) have been developed in the context of the orthodox theory of commercial policy. An analysis is offered that shows why the GATT ideal may not be a flexible medium-term goal...

The interdependence between business cycles of different countries has grown in recent decades. Many factors act as conductors of cyclical fluctuations between countries. In this context, the influence of trade flows in the global transmission of business cycles is examined. The author aims to...

The paper, presented as the “Jean Monnet Lecture†at the European University Institute in Florence on March 20th, 1998, evaluates the current situation and perspective of European industry and finance in the face of world competition. In the context of the European Economic and...