A small expectations-expanded ""Mundell-Fleming"" model is built for the European Union Accession Countries and estimated to assess the optimality of different exchange rate regimes (a peg and a float) through a simple welfare function. Floating appears as the best option for most of the...

EU Member countries have shown different degrees of ambition to reach a budget position of ""close to balance or in surplus"". Differences in ambition can only partly be explained by the relative size of cyclical safety mar-gins or differences in the number of votes in the ECOFIN Council. It is...

The paper analyzes one important aspect of the constitutional debate: the allocation of econornie competences between the EU and the mernber states. It takes the theory of fiscal federalism as a starting point for an optimal allocation of economic competences. The main message of the theory is...