Adjusting to EMU

This book provides an original and wide-ranging analysis of the impact of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) on economic governance in the EU and in several key Member States within and outside the Euro area. Its emphasis is on adaptation: how EMU encourages change in national and EU institutions and in national economic regimes. It brings together economic, political science and legal perspectives to explain how national economies adapted, the dynamics of policy-making and the complex web of laws, processes and actors in the EMU. This book provides an original and wide-ranging analysis of the impact of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) on economic governance in the EU and in several key Member States within and outside the Euro area. Its emphasis is on adaptation: how EMU encourages change in national and EU institutions and in national economic regimes. It explores the challenges that led to reform in 2005 and challenges for future EMU members. It brings together economic, political science and legal perspectives. Economic and econometric analysis identifies and explains the specificities of national economic adaptation while legal and political science analysis addresses the dynamics of policy making and the complex web of laws, processes and actors in the Euro area and beyond. The book provides an account of the process of adjustment to EMU in a manner that is accessible to graduates, academics and the policy community Front Matter....Pages i-xviii Introduction....Pages 1-22 Front Matter....Pages 23-23 Macroeconomic Policy in EMU....Pages 25-64 The EMU Constitution....Pages 65-87 Policy Co-ordination under EMU....Pages 88-115 Structural Policies as Means of Adjusting under EMU....Pages 116-136 Front Matter....Pages 137-137 The Early Years of EMU: Convergence, but Uneven Adjustment?....Pages 139-167 Germany: Painfully Adjusting to EMU?....Pages 168-192 Ireland: Adjusting to Life in the Euro Area Without the United Kingdom....Pages 193-206 Finland: Membership to Encourage Change....Pages 207-224 Sweden: Not Now or Not Ever?....Pages 225-239 The United Kingdom: Prospering Outside the Euro Area?....Pages 240-264 The New Members: Big Bang or Slow Transition to Stage 3?....Pages 265-286 Adjusting to EMU: Conclusions and Policy Implications....Pages 287-305 Back Matter....Pages 306-346 Provides an original and wide-ranging analysis of the impact of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) on economic governance in the EU and in several key Member States within and outside the Euro area. This book's emphasis is on adaptation: how EMU encourages change in national and EU institutions and in national economic regimes