This paper argues that when EU member states joined EMU, this resulted in domestic institutional changes in the areas of fiscal policy-making and wage-setting. The paper argues that these changes were triggered by two facts: (i) in EMU, the monetary policy can no longer be used as an instrument...

The argument in this chapter is that formation of EMU is about restructuring the financial architecture of Europe in order to enhance-rather than simply diminish-national autonomy. By implication, EMU functions-at least in part-to shore up and insulate Europe's member states during a period of...

The EU has set in place a series of mechanisms to try to co-ordinate fiscal, "structural" and monetary policies in order to achieve the objectives of EMU for the 12 members. All of these mechanisms are unique and untried. There is single monetary policy run by the combination of the national...

When preparing its accession strategy, candidate countries with currency board arrangements have to deal with two basic issues: on the exchange rate system and on entering the EMU. The national legal framework regarding monetary issues and the negotiation positions of individual countries are...

Like so many aspects of the European project, the sheer uniqueness of European Monetary Union can often make proper comparative analysis seem difficult and even strained. It seems in so many different ways to mark out uncharted territory. After all, this is a monetary union of democratic states,...

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]. 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...

[From the precis]. This study provides a multi-dimensional analysis of the decision of British policy makers to join the exchange rate mechanism (ERM) of the European Monetary System (EMS) in October 1990, British monetary authorities are obliged to function within several different spheres...