Publisher's Synopsis
The ongoing process of economic integration in the European Union is of primordial theoretical and practical importance as a unique paradigm of extensive regional market liberalisation and international policy coordination. Yet, recent economic performance in a number of European countries seems to have confounded certain initial assessments of the effects of integration, at a time when proposed agendas for European Monetary Unification entail largely uncharted economic horizons. In view of not only the economic size of the EU, but also the novelty of the European integration experiment, it is apparent that this integration process is of global significance.
This volume contains state of the art research which highlights fundamental conceptual, empirical and policy issues underlying a broad range of current European economic concerns, while also underscoring their wider significance. Major topics include the potential consequences of European Monetary Union for macroeconomic performance and the design of optimal policies, as well as the assessment of the degree of financial and real convergence in Europe. Other papers focus on the interrelation between the flexibility of labor markets and monetary unification, the international coordination of taxes on pollution, as well as the impact of European economic integration on the rest of the world. Taken together, the economic analysis offered here, by a distinguished group of both theoretical and applied international economists, delineates the state of current research on a wide spectrum of critical issues related to European economic integration.
As a point of reference for research in the field, this volume will be of broad interest not only to theoreticians, but also to applied and policy–oriented economists. It also offers appropriate supplementary reading for advanced classes on economic integration and international policy coordination.
