This paper evaluates the possible consequences of the forthcoming European and Monetary Union on wage behaviour. It is shown that EMU does not influence wage policy directly, but rather indirectly through its implications on other areas of economic policy, predominantly on monetary policy....

There seems to exist a consensus that transnational labour mobility will help to equalize workers` incomes and domestic product per head between the member countries of a monetary union. However, the t́he new economic geography` which stresses the centrifugal spatial forces of economic activity...

By using a model of trade union behaviour Grüner (2010) argues that the introduction of the European Monetary Union (EMU) led to lower wage growth and lower unemployment in participating countries. Following Grüner's model, monetary centralization lets the central bank react less flexibly to...