This article considers the role of fiscal policy within a European Monetary Union. There are two quite different issues. The first is the medium-term problem of deficits and debt. The Maastricht fiscal convergence criteria are usually seen as an imperfect response to the need to contain...

In EMU, a country may have difficulty ensuring stability in the face of asymmetric shocks; the response may be unstable, or, even if not, the real exchange rate might overshoot. Fiscal policy may help to stabilise inflation and also to target the real exchange rate. The paper argues that an...

In this paper we discuss the emergence of the new European macroeconomic structure within EMU. We focus on three important elements: the wage-fixing authorities in each country, the fiscal authorities in each country, and the single European Central Bank (ECB). We identify serious problems which...

This article examines the new consensus that fiscal policy should have no macroeconomic role in 'flexible inflation targeting' regimes. There is little basis for this presumption. Fiscal policy remains important in setting the policy mix and in managing shocks and imbalances. The credibility of...