The paper analyses various mechanism through which monetary union in Euroep may affect unemployment. The focus is on the political incentives for labour-market reform. There will be more reform outside than inside the EMU to the extent that a national inflation bias can be reduced. But if there...

The likely impact of the EMU on the variability and level of employment is analysed. The major conclusions are: (1) Although an inflation-target regime will constrain monetary policy of a non-participant in the EMU, it still leaves considerable scope for exchange-rate changes in the case of...

The paper demonstrates that policy makers may have a precautionary motive to undertake more labour-market reform -and hence attain lower equilibrium unemployment- inside a monetary union than outside. The reason is a desire to reduce utility cost of variations in employment when asymmetric...