Through the use of a simple behavioural political economy model, we cast doubt on the assumption that voters behave in predictable ways dependent on their expected support for government policies. We show that under certain conditions an unfavourable (i.e. welfare reducing) policy may result,...

This study examines the nature of interdependence, and return and volatility spillovers, for three Indian exchange rates: US dollar (USD), Euro and British Pound. We use the spillover index methodology of Diebold and Yilmaz (2009) to analyse precisely and independently the returns and volatility...

This paper provides a challenging view to the tax harmonisation issue. The literature often proposes tax harmonisation to avoid free-riding behaviours in free-trade areas and more particularly in monetary unions. Without tax harmonisation, tax autonomy may lead to a "race to the bottom". The...

After the fuzziness in Europe that surrounded the implementation of the excessive deficit procedure foreseen by the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), the European Union had to restore the credibility of the weakened fiscal rule. The constraint was to keep alive the Treaty of Amsterdam. Indeed, an...

In 1991, the European Union undertook to form a full-fledged monetary union. It established the European Monetary Union with a European Central Bank (ECB) at its apex and a mandate to pursue price stability. The European regime differs from the US Federal Reserve System, which must pursue high...

European monetary history prior to 1950 presents many attempts at international monetary coordination, but none were as bold and as far reaching as the European Monetary Union envisioned in the Delors Report of 1989 and enacted through the 1991 Treaty on the European Union in Maastricht. This...