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Cover -- Half-Title Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- I.1. The purposes of money -- I.1.1. Money as a tool for transactions -- I.1.2. Money as a standard of values -- I.1.3. Currency as a reserve of value -- I.2. Evolution of the different media of money -- I.2.1. The original materialization of money -- I.2.2. The continuous dematerialization of money and its media -- I.2.3. Consequences of the continued dematerialization of money and its media -- I.3. Currency zones -- I.3.1. The main currency zones throughout history -- I.3.2. Definition of an optimum currency area -- I.4. Outline of this book -- 1. The Monetary Steps that Preceded the Introduction of the Euro -- 1.1. The lack of a sustainable international monetary system -- 1.1.1. From the gold standard to the gold exchange standard system -- 1.1.2. The Bretton Woods international monetary system -- 1.1.3. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), guarantor of the Bretton Woods Agreements -- 1.1.4. The end of convertibility of the dollar and the instability of floating exchange rates -- 1.2. From the Treaty of Rome to the Maastricht Treaty -- 1.2.1. The lack of a monetary target at the beginning of the European Economic Community -- 1.2.2. The Werner Plan and the temporary failure to establish an Economic and Monetary Union -- 1.2.3. The Single European Act and the Delors Report -- 1.2.4. The Maastricht Treaty -- 1.3. Monetary experiences prior to the euro -- 1.3.1. The snake in the tunnel -- 1.3.2. The European Monetary System (EMS) -- 1.3.3. The European Monetary Cooperation Fund (EMCF) -- 1.3.4. The European Monetary Institute (EMI) -- 2. The Monetary Policy Decisions Facing the European Monetary Institute -- 2.1. The central bank, Bank of Banks -- 2.1.1. The original function of the lender of last resort.

This book critically analyses the crisis of the euro currency from 2008 to the present. It argues that an understanding of this crisis requires an understanding of financial and economic crises in individual countries participating in the euro. It goes on to describe and explain the crises in four countries--Greece, Ireland, Spain and Italy--showing how they differ and together challenge the euro currency by requiring a varied policy response from Europe--back cover

The 2008 global Financial Crisis and the subsequent relative collapse of the financial and economic markets, including the government bond markets, in Greece, Ireland, and Portugal as well as economic weakness in other Western European economies have called into question the viability, going forward, of the Euro Currency. The so called PIIGS countries of Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain are thought to be financially vulnerable because of high levels of government spending and resulting deficit levels and inefficient labor markets and tax collection policies among other factors. Those five countries, along with the stronger economies of France and Germany, comprise 7 of the 17 countries in the Eurocurrency Union. Any weakness in the 5 country group can have a contagion effect on the rest and if the recent financial bailouts by the IMF and the European Central Bank in Greece, Portugal and Ireland are not effective then there is a real danger that one of more of the GIP (Greece, Ireland and Spain) countries may have to abandon or be forced to abandon the Euro. Because there is no provision for a country leaving the Eurocurrency Union this is uncharted territory and could lead to the weakening or even demise of the Euro depending upon circumstances. The fact that there are also significant financial linkages and related default risk connecting the five countries to the sounder economies of Germany and France increases the risks. This paper will evaluate the likelihood that the Eurocurrency will be substantially weakened or abandoned over the next 18 months. The evaluation will be highly dependent upon the forecasts for the 5 countries economic prospects, especially the very large economies of Italy and Spain as well as the likely responses of Germany and France to future default like events in the five countries. Metrics utilized will include the trend in economic indicators like long term government bond yields, deficit spending, tax collections, economic growth, and financial linkages and dependence among the seven countries. European Central Bank data and information from related sources like the IMF will be utilized.

This study highlights the location of specific metaphors on the macroeconomic terrain. It starts from the assumption that in order to make 'sense' of the outside world, categorisation should take place. For Eubanks (2000), there is a close relationship between metaphors and frame restructuring – that is, the perspective that is taken on a social issue is determined by the way it is metaphorically represented. This study investigates how The Economist metaphorically frames certain specific target domains (bail-outs, deficit spending), as typified by its multiple responses to the financial crisis of 2008-2010. This study, therefore, pursues a qualitative analysis of metaphor use in The Economist during the aforementioned period, with a view to measuring to what extent the choice of metaphors used by the editors reflects their arguments/ideology against the backdrop of a worldwide liquidity shortfall followed by a dramatic recovery plan. A qualitative analysis is needed to interpret the pragmatic role of metaphors – for example, as to whether they communicate a positive or a negative evaluation of a specific government policy. As Charteris-Black (2004, p. 32) pointed out, "qualitative approaches answer questions such as: what are the different meanings that are attached to particular words or phrases? Are senses literal or metaphoric? What type of evaluations do they convey?". Since metaphors are context-dependent, the case for qualitative analysis is further enhanced. To meet this end, this study draws on Lakoff and Johnson's Critical Metaphor Theory (1980). In order to illustrate this theory, it was necessary to systematically analyse the instances of conceptual metaphors in the 'leaders' (i.e., the editorials) and financial columns of all the weekly issues of The Economist over a 3-year period, i.e. from September 2008 (the draft of the US Emergency Economic Stabilization Act) until December 2010 (the European sovereign debt crisis). ; University of Antwerp, The International Pragmatics Association (IPrA), Venusstraat 23 2000 Antwerpen