The paper analyzes the relation between institutional quality, such as corruption, in a country and its monetary regime. It is shown that a credibly fixed exchange rate to a low inflation country, like a currency board, can reduce corruption and improve the fiscal system. A monetary union,...

What is the optimal institutional structure for an independent central bank? The paper shows when it will be optimal for a country to have a central bank to be organized according to federal, purely national or a combination of both aspects. The analysis is then extended to a supranational...

The most recent wave of political integration in Europe is usually interpreted to represent a consequence of German unification, following which the other EU countries attempted to contain an imputed threat of the change in the European balance of power. This paper shows that German unification...