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As the deadline for completion of the European internal market approaches, tax harmonisation becomes the major concern on the European policy agenda. Until now, the debate has only focused on the taxes which have direct incidence on the process of removing fron tiers barriers : indirect taxes and taxation of income from financial assets. Though the changes are likely to be very small and partial in the short term, the need for some modifications in national tax systems offers good opportunity for more general reflexion about the rationale of tax structures in Europe. This reflexion has to take into account the constraints induced by complete market integration and the necessities of allowing for some national specificities that are likely to persist, such as differences in demographic trends or in the degree of public sector involvment in the supply of certain goods and social services. Moreover, the prospect of monetary unification calls for discussion of how instruments and responsabilities ought to be shared in matter of stabilisation policy. First we analyse the major differences between existing national tax systems in Europe, the United-States and Japan, and present the current state of Community finance. We then briefly discuss the general economic principles of taxation. In the third section different ways of harmonising taxes are explored, trying to reconcile the constraints of harmonisation and the national specificities and sovereignties. These general conclusions are then applied to more detailed study of those taxes that ought to be harmonised taxes on financial assets income, corporate income taxes, VAT and excise duties or possibly transfered to the Community level in the event of an increase in the size of the Community budget. Finally we use the MIMOSA multinational macromodel to simulate the short and medium run macroeconomic consequences of various harmonisation hypotheses.

The article presents the first medium-term projection of the world economy made using MIMOSA, a model built jointly by the CEPII and the OFCE.
After the unexpectedly good performance of the world economy in 1988, a period of slow down could take place in 1989/1990, resulting in part from strong anti-inflationary policies.
Growth in OECD countries would settle at around 3 % a year until 1 993. There would nevertheless be significant differences : growth would be moderate in the United States (2 % a year over the 1988-1993 period), while still vigorous in Japan (4,5 %) ; growth in the EEC would be one point higher than it was between 1979 and 1987, but still disappointing (2,7 %). After a period of lower growth rates than its Européen partners (1983-1987), France would reach the 2,6 % EEC average. The situation would be more propitious for developing countries in Latin America and Africa, which would gradually begin growing again, while Asia as a whole would see particularly strong growth. Inflation would remain under control : it would be weak in Japan, West Germany and France (respectively 1,4, 1,1 and 2,5 % in 1993). It would be significatly higher in the United States (5,4 %).
Oil prices would stabilise in real terms before increasing slowly at the beginning of 1 990. In spite of the dollar's nominal depreciation, (1 ,5 mark and 95 yen) and of the slow down of American growth, imbalances would remain : the United States current account deficit would reach 3,2 % of GNP by the end of the period, while Japaneese and German surpluses would persist.
Finally, disparities in Europe would gradually worsen. Whereas the unemployment rate would remain at a high level in France and Italy (1 1 %), it would decrease steadily in Germany, to reach 5,3 % in 1993, while remaining below its 1987 level in the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, large gaps would remain as far as public accounts are concerned, French discipline contrasting with a persistant deficit in Italy, and the external debt of the United Kingdom would grow. Even though a low inflation rate could be maintained (except for Italy), the objective of macroeconomic convergence within the EEC would still be far from being achieved in 1993.

MIMOSA, modèle macroéconomique de l'économie mondiale, construit en commun par le CEPII et l'OFCE est maintenant opérationnel. Le présent article en présente les principales caractéristiques ainsi que quelques propriétés variantielles. Les économies des six plus importants pays industrialisés sont décrites en détail par des modèles d'inspiration néo-keynésienne ; le découpage en cinq branches permet d'isoler l'énergie, le secteur agricole, le secteur abrité, le secteur non-marchand et l'industrie où la fonction de production, de type putty-clay, permet d'assurer la cohérence des comportements d'emploi, d'investissement, d'accumulation de capacités de production. Ces modèles autorisent une analyse fine des diverses mesures de politiques budgétaires ou monétaires. Neufs zones, analysées plus sommairement, regroupent le reste du monde : le modèle intègre en particulier les contraintes de financement qui pèsent sur les possibilités d'importations des pays en développement. Les interdépendances commerciales sont décrites en quatre produits. L'article analyse comment le modèle rend compte des effets différenciés sur l'économie considérée et sur l'économie mondiale d'une hausse des dépenses publiques survenant dans un des grands pays. Il étudie ensuite les conséquences d'une baisse du dollar, puis d'une baisse généralisée des taux d'intérêt. Bien qu'il reste, à certains égards, en construction, le modèle MIMOSA constitue déjà un outil utile pour comprendre le fonctionnement de l'économie mondiale et prévoir son évolution.