Prior to the launch of the euro, academics and policymakers were concerned that the loss of the monetary policy instrument would deprive participating countries of a vital tool to respond to country-specific economic shocks. This concern was rooted in the generally accepted proposition that...

Many observers have noted a recent proliferation of regional trade agreements primarily centred in or on Europe. The paper analyses the causes and consequences of EC regionalism. It begins by examining the development and importance of the phenomenon. It finds that although the EC maintains...

Theoretical and empirical research suggests that import competition within European markets imposes a major constraint on domestic firms's price-cost margins. The programme for the completion of the European Community's (EC) internal market by 1992 is largely based on the effects expected from a...

This paper uses a standard gravity equation to test the hypothesis of domino effects in Western Europe. The question being addressed is whether increased integration within the EC has impacted negatively on non-members and thereby prompted their application for EC membership. The paper finds...

Thirty years ago, when the Treaty of Rome came into effect, agriculture and manufacturing dominated activity in the European Community (EC). Today, in every member state, services account for more production and employment than agriculture and manufacturing combined. The growing role of services...

Little progress has been made since the creation of the WTO in expanding and deepening the coverage of services liberalization commitments. This paper identifies and discusses five hypotheses that may explain the absence of dynamism: (i) technological changes allow ever more services to be...

Although much has been written recently on the likely impact of 1992 on European economies, relatively little attention has been devoted to the external impact of the internal market. Yet, given the importance of the Community in world trade, the completion of Europe's domestic market could...

During the ‘Golden Age’ that lasted until the mid-1970s, Europe witnessed a "public finance" phase, when the three sides of Musgrave’s triangle - allocative efficiency, redistribution and cyclical stabilisation - seemed to reinforce one another. EMU's fiscal rules - embodied in the...

Trade liberalization in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland was accomplished in record time between 1989 and 1991. Sustainability became, however, a major concern in Central and Eastern Europe as the `honeymoon of trade liberalization' ended in 1991/2. The paper examines whether Europe Agreements...