This valuable book examines the interaction between economic ideas and the policy-making process in Europe, centred around the creation of European Monetary Union. The essays cover three broad areas: early debates on European monetary integration, economic thought at the European Community...

To understand macroeconomic and monetary thought at the European Commission, two elements are crucial: firstly, the Rome Treaty, as it determined the mandate of the Commission and, secondly, the economic ideas in the different countries of the European Community, as economic thought at the...

Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa was one of the great architects of the euro. He is remembered in particular as co-rapporteur for the Delors Committee and as a founding member of the European Central Bank’s Executive Board. For Padoa-Schioppa, becoming Director-General of the European Commission’s DG...

This paper analyses the roles which Belgium and Italy have played in the process of European monetary integration. It focusses on Belgian and Italian attitudes towards European integration and EMU, exchange rate policies, key concepts of the EMU strategies and concrete contributions. Overall,...

Among the international policy institutions, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is known for its sensitivity to financial stability issues. Typical for the BIS is a �macro-prudential� approach. In this paper, it is argued that Alexandre Lamfalussy, who was at the BIS from...