Will the Euro work? The ins and outs of EMU

Will the euro work? The ins and outs of EMU:

During 1997, at the initiative of a group of sponsors from financial institutions which felt that not enough had been explained about the vital issues surrounding monetary union, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) published 'The pros and cons of EMU' (economic and monetary union). The report's author was David Currie, Professor of Economics at the London Business School. He was asked to set out clearly and dispassionately the arguments for and against Europe's plans for a single currency. The subsequent report was widely praised and, indeed, widely circulated as one of the sponsors of the report financed its free availability on the EIU website. The new UK Government also arranged for an abbreviated version of the report to be freely circulated.

One year later many of the samesponsors have come together again with the EIU to finance a second follow-up report from the same author called 'Will the euro work. The ins and outs of EMU'. The stage has now been reached where, regardless of any persisting doubts amongst sectors of the population in the Member States, EMU will almost certainly be launched on time and with wide participation. The central question is no longer whether monetary union is a good idea, but whether it will work well.

Written in the well-known concise and jargon-free EIU house-style of short and clearly-structured chapters, the report is an excellent overview of the current issues. Following a summary of the volume and an introductory chaptersubsequent chapters look at the short-term prospects for EMU; the position of the UK; macroeconomic policy and stability within EMU; making the euro sustainable: supply-side flexibility; scenarios for the euro; summing up.

Currie, David
Will the euro work? The ins and outs of EMU
Research Report
The Economist Intelligence Unit, 1998
ISBN: 0-85058-998-3
Price: £145.00