The EMU fiscal adjustment paths of the four Southern Europe members (Italy, Spain, Greece, and Portugal – SE-4) vary along two dimensions: a) cross-temporal (pre- and post-EMU accession) and b) cross-country. We account for the cross-temporal variation by distinguishing between the ‘hard’...

In the post-Constitution EU, the rotating Presidency would be replaced by a hybrid system combining a rotating component with the establishment of a permanent President for the European Council. Using a principal-agent framework, we look at the supply and demand for formal leadership in the new...

Abstract Following their EU15 counterparts, the banking systems of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries underwent extensive reform since the 1990s. In this paper we estimate the degree of bank market power during the periods of financial reform in each European country, and subsequently...

In this paper we estimate the degree of bank market power during the periods of financial reform in each European country and subsequently we analyze the political and institutional sources of bank competition, distinguishing between the EU15 and CEE subgroups. A positive linear relationship...

The paper provides a structural and political account of financial interventionism in Southern Europe (Spain, Portugal and Greece) and examines competing explanations for financial liberalization. It focuses on the economic and political objectives underlying financial reform, and the costs and...

The Engines of European Integration. Delegation, Agency and Agenda-Setting in the EU, by M.A. Pollack Le Fait Regional et la Construction Europeenne, edited by M.T. Bitsch NATO, the European Union, and the Atlantic Community: The Transatlantic Bargain Reconsidered, by S.R. Sloan Privatisation in...

Despite its important advantages of efficiency gains, price transparency, monetary stability, easing currency markets pressure on the payments balance, and so on, EMU is anything but a risk-free enterprise. Economic conflict may arise from unfortunate developments regarding the Euro, which may...