The Political Economy of the European Economic and Monetary Union: Political Sources of an Economic Liability

Martin Feldstein

No 6150, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: EMU would be an economic liability. A single currency would cause at most small trade and investment gains but would raise average cyclical unemployment and would probably raise inflation, perpetuate structural unemployment, and increase the risk of protectionism. EMU is nevertheless being pursued in order to create a political union. Fundamental disagreements among member states about economic policies, foreign and military policies, and the sharing of political power are likely to create future intra-European conflicts. A united Europe would be a formidable participant in the 21st century's global balance of power, with uncertain consequences for world stability and peace.

JEL-codes: F02 F33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1998-02
Note: EFG IFM ITI PE
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (30)

Published as Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 11, no. 4 (Fall 1997): 23-42.

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w6150.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The Political Economy of the European Economic and Monetary Union: Political Sources of an Economic Liability (1997)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:6150

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w6150

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().