This book deals with the economic consequences of monetary integration, which has long been dominated by the Optimal Currency Area (OCA) paradigm. In this model, money is perceived as having developed from a private sector cost minimization process to facilitate transactions. Not surprisingly,...

When I wrote my book on EMU four years ago (Kenen 1995), very little had been written on the international dimensions of EMU. There was a chapter in the Commission's path-breaking study (European Commission, 1990). There were papers by Alogoskoufis and Portes (1991, 1992), Cooper (1992),...

Why is the policy of no alternatives so dangerous? -- What does "crisis policy" mean and why do its consequences have a disintegrative effect? -- What are the costs of the low interest rate policy? -- How much was the debt relief for Greece really? -- To what extent do national additional money...