Suchergebnisse

Cover -- Contents -- List of Figures, Tables and Boxes -- Abbreviations -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- 1 History of Economic and Monetary Union -- From the Snake to the EMS -- Launching Monetary Union, 1999-2008 -- Crisis and Aftermath: Reconstructing EMU, 2008-present -- Conclusion -- 2 Monetary Integration -- Evolution EMU 1.0 -- Institutions -- Conclusion -- 3 The European Central Bank -- Institutional Configuration and Legal Mandates -- The ECB's Record -- Conclusion -- 4 Financial Integration and Banking Union -- Evolution -- Institutions -- External Dimension -- Conclusion -- 5 Fiscal Policy Coordination -- Evolution -- Instruments -- Conclusion -- 6 Economic Policy Coordination -- Evolution -- Institutions and Instruments -- Conclusion -- 7 The Euro Outs: A View from the Outside -- Becoming a Euro Insider -- Evolution -- The Euro Outsiders with Opt-outs -- Pre-euro Accession Countries -- Remaining in as an Out -- Conclusion -- 8 EMU and the World -- The Euro as an International Currency -- China and the Euro -- External Representation -- Conclusion -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index.

"This book, unlike other books, provides readers with a practical yet sophisticated grasp of the macroeconomic principles necessary to understand a monetary union. By definition, a monetary union is a group of countries that share a common currency. The most important case in point is the Euro area. Policy makers are the central bank, national governments, and national labour unions. Policy targets are price stability and full employment. Policy makers follow cold-turkey or gradualist strategies. Policy decisions are taken sequentially or simultaneously. The countries can differ in size or behaviour. Policy expectations are adaptive or rational. To illustrate all of this there are numerical simulations of monetary policy, fiscal policy, and wage policy."--Jacket

Europe's financial crisis cannot be blamed on the Euro, Harold James contends in this probing exploration of the whys, whens, whos, and what-ifs of European monetary union. The current crisis goes deeper, to a series of problems that were debated but not resolved at the time of the Euro's invention. Since the 1960s, Europeans had been looking for a way to address two conundrums simultaneously: the dollar's privileged position in the international monetary system, and Germany's persistent current account surpluses in Europe. The Euro was created under a politically independent central bank to meet the primary goal of price stability. But while the monetary side of union was clearly conceived, other prerequisites of stability were beyond the reach of technocratic central bankers. Issues such as fiscal rules and Europe-wide banking supervision and regulation were thoroughly discussed during planning in the late 1980s and 1990s, but remained in the hands of member states. That omission proved to be a cause of crisis decades later. Here is an account that helps readers understand the European monetary crisis in depth, by tracing behind-the-scenes negotiations using an array of sources unavailable until now, notably from the European Community's Committee of Central Bank Governors and the Delors Committee of 1988-89, which set out the plan for how Europe could reach its goal of monetary union. As this foundational study makes clear, it was the constant friction between politicians and technocrats that shaped the Euro. And, Euro or no Euro, this clash will continue into the future.

The Road to Monetary Union analyses in non-technical language the process leading to adoption of a common currency for the European Union. The monetary union process involved different issues at different times and the contemporary global background mattered. The Element explains why monetary union was attempted and failed in the 1970s, and why the process was restarted in 1979, accelerated after 1992 and completed for a core group of EU members in 1999. It analyzes connections between eurozone membership and Greece's sovereign debt crisis. It concludes with analysis of how the eurozone works today and with discussion of its prospects for the 2020s. The approach is primarily economic, while acknowledging the role of politics (timing) and history (path dependence). A theme is to challenge simplistic ideas (e.g. that the euro has failed) with fuller analysis of competing pressures to shape the nature of monetary union.

Monetary Issues: Monetary Unions: Between International Trade and National Sovereignty -- Why a Monetary Union?- Monetary Policy in a Monetary Union: Lessons from Simple Models -- Institutions and Monetary Policy -- Fiscal Issues: Government Deficits, Transfers and Debt -- Fiscal Policies in a Monetary Union -- The Policy Mix -- Toward an Ever Closer Union: Structural Adjustments and Reforms -- Fiscal Union -- Banking Union -- The Fate of a Monetary Union -- General Conclusion. .

Using a DSGE model calibrated to the euro area, we analyze the international effects of afiscal devaluation (FD) implemented as a revenue-neutral shift from employer's socialcontributions to the Value Added Tax. We find that a FD in 'Southern European countries'has a strong positive effect on output, but mild effects on the trade balance and the realexchange rate. Since the benefits of a FD are small relative to the divergence incompetitiveness, it is best addressed through structural reforms

KEY ISSUESContext. The region continued to experience a strong upswing in 2013 and the immediate outlook is for further vigorous growth and moderate inflation. Sustaining this performance over the medium term, however, will require ambitious growth-enhancing reforms, high quality public investment, and consolidation of the recent improvements in the regional political and security situation. The outlook is subject to moderate downside risks. In the short term, political stability could be tested with the upcoming elections in a number of member states, particularly in a context of high demand

This book studies the coexistence of inflation and unemployment in a monetary union. The focus is on how to reduce the associated loss. The primary target of the European central bank is low inflation in Europe. The primary target of the German government is low unemployment in Germany. And the primary target of the French government is low unemployment in France. The European central bank has a quadratic loss function. The same applies to the German government and the French government. The key questions are: To what extent can the sequential process of monetary and fiscal decisions reduce the loss caused by inflation and unemployment? Is monetary and fiscal cooperation superior to the sequential process of monetary and fiscal decisions?

This book studies the strategic policy interactions in a monetary union. The leading protagonists are the European Central Bank and national governments. The target of the ECB is low inflation in Europe. The targets of a national government are low unemployment and a low structural deficit. There are demand shocks, supply shocks, and mixed shocks. There are country-specific shocks and common shocks. This book develops a series of basic, intermediate, and more advanced models. Here the focus is on the Nash equilibrium. The key questions are: Given a shock, can policy interactions reduce the existing loss? And to what extent can they do so? Another topical issue is policy cooperation. To illustrate all of this there are a lot of numerical examples.