In the revised monetary policy strategy of the European Central Bank (ECB), “price stability is best maintained by aiming for two per cent inflation over the medium term”, with “symmetric commitment” to this target. “Symmetry means that the Governing Council considers negative and...

Some recent articles explain the Asian crisis almost exclusively in terms of "fundamentals". The role played by private sector's expectations, however, should also be considered. In my view, then, "escape clause" models exhibiting multiple equilibria within a grey area, especially when...

<i> Dalla credibilità alla speculazione: la crisi del 1992-93 del Sistema monetario europeo </i> (di Pompeo Della Posta) - ABSTRACT: We consider the events that from the creation of the European Monetary System (EMS) lead to the 1992-93 crisis. The adoption of the Single European Act imposed the...

The euro area crisis shows some similarities with the crisis that affected the European Monetary System in 1992-93. I argue that the theoretical framework to be used in order to analyze it can also be similar. As a matter of fact, together with the point of view of the government, that should...

The paper surveys old and new theories of optimum currency areas by following a unifying "logical" rather than "chronological" approach. The fall of credibility theory as the "new" theory of optimum currency areas obliged to go back to the "old" criteria while focusing, however, also on supply...

The predictions made by economists of the value of the euro prior to its introduction were essentially based on the expected portfolio adjustment resulting from the role that it might play as an international currency. As a result, most analysts agreed that the euro would be a strong currency,...

In this paper we extend Nordhaus’ (1994) results to an environment which may represent the current European situation, characterised by a single monetary authority and several fiscal bodies. We show that: a) co-operation among national fiscal authorities is welfare improving only if they also...

The global financial and economic crisis has brought about many effects that are still difficult to interpret univocally. This book studies the consequences of the crisis on Europe by examining the effects on the European institutional setup, governance and architecture and by studying in detail...