Search

Early transition was characterized by debate over shock therapy and gradualism as alternative reform strategies. Other important debates concerned the nature of the former USSR. Was it ever Socialist and what were its laws of motion? What implications does the old system have for the course of post-communist reforms? These are among the key issues analysed in this book, through a mix of conceptual analysis and an interesting selection of country studies.

Monetary union has dawned in Europe. Now that the common currency is a reality, questions concerning the practical conduct of monetary policy in the European Monetary Union (EMU) are moving to the forefront of the policy debate. Among these, one of the most critical is how the new monetary union will cope with the large heterogeneity of its member economies. Given the large differences in economic and financial structures among the EMU member states, monetary policy is likely to affect different member economies in different ways. Regional Aspects of Monetary Policy in Europe collects the proceedings of an international conference held at the Center for European Integration Studies of the University of Bonn, dedicated to this issue. The contributions to this conference fall into two parts. The first part consists of empirical and theoretical studies of the regional effects of monetary policy in heterogeneous monetary unions. The second part consists of papers analyzing the political economy of monetary policy in a monetary union of heterogeneous regions or member states. The papers all support the conclusion that regional differences in the responses to a common monetary policy will make European monetary policy especially difficult in the years to come. Such differences arise from a variety of sources, and they cannot be expected to be mere teething troubles that will disappear after a while. Even if they were ignored in the run-up to the EMU, Europe's central bankers and economic policy makers will have to learn how to cope with such differences in the future.

Rolf R. Strauch and Jiirgen von Hagen Center for European Integration Studies (ZEI), University of Bonn; ZEI, University of Bonn, Indiana University, and CEPR The large and persistent deficits, rising levels of debt and growing levels of public spending observed in many DECO economies during the past 25 years have stimulated much theoretical and empirical research on the political economy of public finance. Although a number of issues have been studied extensively, certain areas are still at an exploratory stage and need further theorizing and thorough empirical research. During the last two decades, the theoretical debate on budgeting has been dominated by the controversy between partisan and institutionalist approaches. Within the more political-science oriented, institutionalist literature, a controversy exists between the distributive and the informational perspectives, each setting forth a distinctive organizational rationale of parliaments with different fiscal implications. The papers in this volume cover these different perspectives, extend previous models, and test their empirical validity. The papers were originally written for a conference on'Institutions, Politics, and Fiscal Policy'organized by the Center for European Integration Studies at the University of Bonn, Germany, in July 1998. The book is organized in three parts each focusing on a distinctive aspect. The first part is dedicated to the partisan perspective. The second part focuses on budget institutions. The third part consists of three case studies of institutional reform of the budget process. This book is directed to academics and practitioners alike.

This title was first published in 2001. John Kirton, Joseph Daniels and Andreas Freytag present an indispensable and authoritative collection of papers which examine both the professional economic merits and the underlying politics, of the hotly contested competing initiatives for strengthening the international financial system. Containing the first treatment of China's relationship with the G7/G8 and comprehensive analysis of the new G20 forum, this volume in the G8 and Global Governance series also looks at the possibilities for the G8 system. It places the work of the G7 within a broader context of global governance and the new challenges facing the international community in the new century. A balanced selection of distinguished experts from the G7 countries and from emerging markets outside, provide an essential addition to the bookshelves of academics, government officials and business and media communities interested in keeping abreast of the ongoing and rapidly expanding work of the G7/G8 system.

Representing the speeches and papers given by ministers or other authorities at the symposium on Argentina's Economic Policy 1946-1983 held in Toledo, Spain, this collection spans both the economic and political dimensions of the development of Argentinian economic policies.

This book provides an up-to-date interdisciplinary critique of the new economic orthodoxy as represented by the Washington Consensus. The originator of the term, John Williamson, updates his original thesis which is then discussed by an interdisciplinary group of scholars that includes economists, environmentalists, political scientists, institutionalists, sociologists and a philosopher. The papers span a range of viewpoints which includes sympathetic modifications to the consensus as well as strong rejections of it.

Au moment où de nombreux États sont accusés de mauvaise gestion, l'affaire Cahuzac, les Panama's papers, le LuxLeaks, etc. ont mis en évidence l'importance de l'évitement fiscal dans le monde. Des experts spécialisés engagent un lobbying auprès des États pour les inciter à diminuer leurs taux d'imposition réels dans le cadre d'une libéralisation accrue des capitaux. Cependant, lorsque les avantages ne sont pas suffisants, des procédures de fraude fiscale sont suggérées en toute impunité. Face aux scandales, l'U.E. et l'OCDE proposent des solutions collectives, solutions que cet ouvrage entend exposer.

Prior to the 1970s, few serious efforts were made to bridge the gap between economics and political science in the study of international relations. Systematic scholarly analysis of International Political Economy (IPE), emphasizing formal integration of elements of orthodox market and political analysis, is really of very recent origin. This volume brings together some of the most important research papers published in the modern field of IPE since its birth less than four decades ago, emphasizing work that has significantly advanced theoretical and analytical understandings. Coverage includes grand questions of systemic transformation and system governance as well as more narrowly focused explorations of the two most central issue-areas of the world economy, trade and money and finance. The introductory essay locates this selection of articles in the context of the field's broad evolution and development to date.

This book is based on the conference'EMU and the Outside World', held at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), December 11, 1998. The conference was organized by the Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research (KOF), which is supported jointly by the ETH and the Swiss Society for Business Cycle Research (SGK), an organization comprising representatives from private industry, the Swiss National Bank and public authorities. On the eve of the final stage of European Economic and Mone­ tary Union (EMU), Zurich seemed to be a particularly appropriate place for such a conference. On the one hand, given its location and economic and financial links with the euro area, Switzerland is one of the'outside coun­ tries'most affected by EMU. On the other hand, it was nowhere else than in Zurich where the vision of'a United States of Europe'was expressed for the first time by Winston Churchill in his speech on September 19, 1946. For many EMU is a step in that direction, whether welcome or not. Most of the papers appearing in this volume were presented at the con­ ference and have been revised and updated. Three contributions, chapter 11- 13, were commissioned specially for this publication. Besides the authors of the chapters, special thanks are due to Guido Boller, Robert McCauley, Umberto Schwarz, and Charles Wyplosz.

As part of its EU strategy, the Swiss government commissioned several research projects covering the most important aspects of economic integration. Given the interesting results and the wealth of methods used in these studies we decided to organize a conference on the topic of'The Economic Impact of EU Membership on Entrants: New Methods and Issues'. The idea was to use the work on Switzerland as a case study for discussing modern approaches on how to assess the economic effects of joining an integration zone. This seemed to us to be a topic of considerable interest for the rising number of prospective EU-member countries. The response was very favourable with many eminent scholars agreeing to contribute. The conference took place in Lausanne, Switzerland in October 1999 and the papers submitted together with the discussions are published in this volume. We would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs and to thank the University of Lausanne for providing the venue facilities for the conference. Many persons helped in the preparation of the conference and this volume but we would like to especially mention Marc Surchat who provided substantial input for the conference and Walter Brodmann who very efficiently reviewed and finalized the manuscript. The Editors RICHARD E. BALDWIN AND A YMO BRUNETTI THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF EU MEMBERSHIP ON ENTRANTS: NEW METHODS AND ISSUES INTRODUCTION What a transformation Europe has witnessed in the past 15 years.

Integration of the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) into the European Union (EU) has become more a question of timing than a question whether it will or should be made. Since one of the objectives of the EU is to establish a system ensuring competition in the internal market is not distorted the question arises if the CEECs can be integrated into such a competitive system. Which rules of competition are appropriate to improve the economic integration of the CEECs and to promote at the same time the enduring transition process? The relationship between competition policy and East-West integration is the general theme of the contributions in this book. One central issue of this volume is the way of integrating the Central and East European countries into the EU and supporting their development by liberalizing trade with the EU. A second issue is the implementation of a market economy in the post-socialist countries of Eastern Europe and in particular the aspect of implementing competition rules at a time when markets are just emerging. The twelve selected papers are organized in three sections: -Competition Policy and Integration (part 1); -Competition Policy During Transition (part 2); -Competition, Trade Policy and East-West-Integration (part 3).