Europe's economic dilemma / John Mills.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mills, John, 1938-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Monetary unions--European Union countries.

Monetary unions.

European Union countries.

European currency unit.

European Union countries--Economic conditions.

Economic conditions.

Physical Description:

xiv, 177 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : St. Martin's Press, 1998.

Summary:

This book analyzes the reasons why the European Union's growth has fallen during the last quarter of a century to little more than a third of its previous level. It concludes that the major reason has been politically driven attempts to lock EU currencies together in inappropriate economic circumstances. These have led to chronic deflation, rising unemployment and falling investment and competitiveness as EU Member States, without exchange rate flexibility, have found themselves unable to compete with Germany. The book then turns to proposals for overcoming the EU's current economic shortcomings. It concludes that the way ahead is not to proceed with the single currency, but to use instead a much more accommodating monetary and macro-economic system.

Contents:

Why Economic Success is Important 7

Low Growth and High Unemployment in Europe 12

Political Pressures and Economic Ideas 16

Europe's Critical Choices 19

2. The Historical Background 22

Industrialisation up to World War I 25

The Inter-war Period 31

Recovery Post-World War II 37

The Common Market 40

3. What Went Wrong? 47

Oil, Monetarism and Exchange Rates 49

Monetarism in Theory and Practice 52

The Snake and the Exchange Rate Mechanism 59

The Single Market 65

The Single Currency 68

Politics, Economics and Deflation 76

4. Achieving Economic Growth 79

Competitiveness 81

Protectionism and Free Trade 84

Recapturing Home and Export Markets 88

Returns on Investment 93

Changing the Exchange Rate 96

EU Policy Mistakes 101

5. The Goal of Full Employment 105

False Analysis 107

Misguided Solutions 112

Reflation and the Trade Balance 117

Expanding Demand 121

Longer-term Solutions 124

6. Living Standards and Inflation 129

Devaluation and the Price Level 132

Leading Sector Inflation 137

Shocks to the System 140

Too Much Demand 143

Labour Costs 147

7. The Choices to be Made 155

The Problems with European Monetary Union 158

Alternative Policy Anchors 163

A Better Future for Europe 167.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 171-173) and index.

ISBN:

0312211147

OCLC:

37579561