European monetary integration: Past, present and future

Book abstract:

This book examines the background to economic and monetary union, providing a historical perspective before looking at current issues and future prospects. Whilst a brief account of the topic is provided from the mid-1800s, the emphasis of the historical perspective is for the period from 1979 with the setting up of the European Monetary System. The book consists of nine chapters contributed by academics specialising in economics from a range of European universities.

The first part of the book, concentrating on the period from 1979-1999, consists of three chapters. 'The Political Economy of Transition to Monetary Union in Western Europe' looks at three alternative theories of the transition process to monetary union: a market approach, an institutional approach and a shock-therapy approach. 'German Monetary Unification and its Implications for EMU' compares the German monetary union process of 1989-1990 when the Deutschmark replaced the Ostmark with the process of EMU. The third chapter of this section examines the theory of monetary union and the EMU. The second section looks at current issues examining monetary and fiscal policy followed by an analysis of how these impinge on EU labour markets, especially on employment. In the final part, the future of EMU is considered from the perspective of the ERM-II exchange rate arrangements that exist for non-Euroland EU economies and the exchange rate implications for the Eastern European economies and their potential future membership of EMU.

The book would be suited for students with an interest in European studies or economics. Eric Pentecost is Reader in Economics at Loughborough University. André van Poeck is Professor of Economics at the University of Antwerp.