Theories of international cooperation (TIC) predict that deeper economic integration raises the costs of policy conflicts and promotes coordination. As the US-EU economy makes up 60 per cent of the world GDP, policymakers on the two sides of the Atlantic are expected to assign highest priority...

[Introduction]. A monetary union is a group of states which share a single, or common, currency. An economic and monetary union (EMU), like the Eurozone, is characterized not only by a single currency, but also by a single market, as well as by a common economic and monetary policy. According to...

[Introduction]. Until the 19th and mid-20th centuries, economic theory explained that the economic status of a country was represented by the strength of its currency.2 This strength is measured by the exchange rate of one currency vis-á-vis another currency, a “zero-sum” game in which one...

[From the Introduction]. On March 13, 1991, the European Monetary System (EMS) celebrated its twelfth birthday with a sense that the system, originally launched by French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing and West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, had progressed much further toward...

It is nearly impossible to fully understand the developments and problems of European economic and monetary integration without examining its historical and political background. European monetary integration has at times been propelled, at times been hindered by political motives and...

Wage growth has remained under control after the formation of the European Monetary Union (EMU). The literature has advanced numerous explanations to account for this phenomenon. But, arguments about the need to preserve competitiveness in an enlarged market remain too generic. At the same time,...

[From the Introduction]. What are the major issues involved in our topic? The questions are: first, given that there is a "Europe 1992", the creation of a Single European market (SEM) in the real sector, what, if any, are, or must be, the implications for the monetary sector. Second, whether and...

At the start of the Third Stage of EMU, it was by no means clear whether the ECB would succeed in setting up an efficient framework for distributing liquidity throughout the euro-zone. Now in retrospect, however, the ECB appears to have been quite successful. In this paper, we will look at the...

Ahead of the European Council meeting on 23 October, the author outlines how EU Heads of States should focus on restoring confidence in euro-area policymakers’ ability and determination to put the euro area on a sound footing and restore market credibility. Stress in the interbank market has...

[From the Introduction]. The main purpose of this paper is to consider whether fiscal policy according to EMU’s constraints is sustainable particularly in the context of high unemployment and low growth. In this respect, this paper is mainly based on previous studies which developed possible...