The introduction of the euro will be a major event for international monetary relations and the international monetary system. It will have important implications not only for the Union and its Member States but also for other countries in the world. The size of the euro area, the stability...

The advent of EMU inspired a large literature searching for differences in the monetary policy transmission among European countries. Stylised facts seemed to arise, classifying the countries as having either rapid or slow transmission. This paper takes a comprehensive look at the existing...

Exchange rate variability is a central theme in the debate on the performance of exchange rate regimes. The consequences of this variability for economic activities have always been a major concern of policy makers. The present study focuses on international trade. The aim is to construct a...

These texts are an addendum to the texts originally published as Europaper No 7 "Compilation of community legislation and related documents", and should be read in conjunction with that work. A definitive version of the compilation will be published later in the year.

The paper discusses the impact of EMU on the 12 Mediterranean partner countries. It argues that the introduction of the euro is likely to have a positive, albeit limited, impact on the region. The Mediterranean partners will benefit from a more predictable and transparent external environment...

A stable and predictable demand for money function is a pre-requisite for the use of targets for monetary aggregates as a suitable intermediate objective of monetary policy. In spite of the clear difficulties which have manifested themselves in the estimation of such money functions, empirical...

The following fact sheets provide an overview of the state of preparations for the changeover of public administrations to the euros as of 15 May 1998. All eleven participating Member States are now in the process of enacting euro-related legislation which will come into force on 1 January 1999....

On 30 September 1998, the Monetary Committee of the European Union established an ad-hoc working party on the technical issues relating to the implications of Stage 3 of EMU for the European Bonds and Bills markets. The group is chaired by Mr Brouhns, General Secretary of the Finance Ministry of...

This edition presents, as a double number, two interrelated reports on preparatory aspects of the introduction of the euro.

In a little over one year, Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) will enter its third and final phase. As the date of 1st January 1999 approaches, the debate over European monetary unification is accelerating. The time has come, therefore, to shift our attention from the legal and technical issues...