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 countdown for establishing economic and monetary union (EMU) in Europe has started and the countries of the European Union are practically on automatic pilot. Nevertheless, some nagging questions still have to be addressed concerning the design of the project and the possibility that, if not...

At the start of the Third Stage of EMU, it was by no means clear whether the ECB would succeed in setting up an efficient framework for distributing liquidity throughout the euro-zone. Now in retrospect, however, the ECB appears to have been quite successful. In this paper, we will look at the...

The countdown for establishing economic and monetary union (EMU) in Europe has started and the countries of the European Union are practically on automatic pilot. Nevertheless, some nagging questions still have to be addressed concerning the design of the project and the possibility that, if not...

At the start of the Third Stage of EMU, it was by no means clear whether the ECB would succeed in setting up an efficient framework for distributing liquidity throughout the euro-zone. Now in retrospect, however, the ECB appears to have been quite successful. In this paper, we will look at the...

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...