The objective of this paper is to analyse key aspects of economic policy in EMU taking into account the basic components of the Community framework, namely (i) the internal market, (ii) common fiscal rules and provisions for economic policy co-ordination, and (iii) the single monetary policy....

The EMU fiscal adjustment paths of the four Southern Europe members (Italy, Spain, Greece, and Portugal – SE-4) vary along two dimensions: a) cross-temporal (pre- and post-EMU accession) and b) cross-country. We account for the cross-temporal variation by distinguishing between the ‘hard’...