Description
The European Community is negotiating a new treaty to establish the constitutional foundations of an economic and monetary union in the course of the 1990s. This study provides the only comprehensive guide to the economic implications of economic and monetary union. The work of an economist inside the Commission of the European Community, it reflects the considerations influencing the design of the union. The study creates a unique bridge between the insights of modern economic analysis and the work of the policy makers preparing for economic and monetary union. Executive Summary; A: Synthesis and Economic Principles: Synthesis; The Economics of EMU; B: The Main Benefits and Costs: Efficiency Gains; Benefits of Stable Prices; Implications for Public Finance; Adjusting without the Nominal Exchange Rate; External Dimensions; C: The Impact Through Time and Space: Transitional Issues; Spatial Aspects; National Perspectives on the Costs and Benefits of EMU; Annexes: Exchange Transaction Costs; Germany and the Netherlands: the Case of a de facto Monetary Union; European and German Economic and Monetary Union: a Comparison; Shocks and Adjustment in EMU: Simulations with the Quest Model; Exchange Rate Regimes in the EC: Simulations with the Multimod Model
