When the European Monetary System (EMS) was created in 1978, economists on both sides of the Atlantic predicted its early failure. Today, EMS is alive and well, continuing to defy conventional economic wisdom. The authors address three major questions about the European Monetary System (EMS): how it came into being, how it works and how it may evolve into a fully-fledged monetary union.

This paper discusses various developments and perspectives of the European Monetary System (EMS). There have been three phases in the development of the EMS: from its beginning in March 1979 to March 1983, can be seen as a phase of trial and orientation; from March 1983 to 1987, can be described as one of consolidation; and The Basle/Nyborg agreement marked the end of the consolidation phase, characterized by the striving for stability, the emergence of the deutsche mark as the anchor currency, and the predominance of intramarginal intervention in partner currencies. EMS has allowed simultaneous progress toward external and internal stability. The EMS Agreement provided for fluctuation margins offering some flexibility and for the possibility of central rate changes, which could compensate for diverging monetary policies. As divergences were narrowed, central rate adjustments could be small so as not to affect market rates; thus minimizing the potential for destabilizing capital flows.

The papers in this volume were presented at a conference on "The EMS, Ten Years Later" at the University of Bergamo, Italy, May 1989. They look at the history of the EMS, the reasons underlying the successes attributed to it, the problems it created, and its future.

Europe’s financial crisis cannot be blamed on the Euro, James contends in this probing exploration of the whys, whens, whos, and what-ifs of European monetary union. The current crisis goes deeper, to conundrums that were debated but not resolved at the time of the Euro’s invention. And, Euro or no Euro, these clashes will continue into the future.

This volume contributes to the European debate on the best way of achieving Economic and Monetary Union, as agreed by the Treaty of Maastricht. Contributions are provided from a large group of experts, both academics and market participants from all EC countries.

The creation of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and the introduction of the euro is a historical event for the EU countries. The debates on the desirability of the EMU provoked a vast economic literature dealing with the theory of the optimum currency area, costs and benefits of the EMU, symmetric vs. asymmetric shocks, alternative mechanisms of adjustment in a monetary union and so forth. Until recently, for the Central European candidate countries for a full membership in the EU, these issues seemed to be too far away, as they concentrated on devising their own monetary and exchange rate systems suitable for their transition period. The challenges of the EMU for the Central European countries were practically not dealt with in both Western and Eastern economic literature. The present book aims to fill this gap, by focusing on the most direct issue of relevance for the Central European countries with respect to the EMU - why, how and when these countries are expected to join the EMU. The papers included in this volume study the relationship between the EU accession process of the Central European candidate countries and their involvement in the process of European monetary integration.

EC monetary integration was reinforced in the 1980s when macroeconomic convergence and a dominant role of the German Bundesbank created the basis for relatively stable exchange rates and increasing EC trade volumes. Reduced capital controls and rising capital mobility as well as German unification caused shifts and shocks which undermined EMS stability in a critical period - the transition to EMU in accord with the Maastricht Treaty which called for further increasing monetary integration. The analysis focuses on these issues, the EMS crisis of 1992/93, the topic of optimum currency areas and the problem of fiscal policies/regional stabilization in Europe, the US and Canada. This book gives an assessment of the EMS developments and shows how financial market liberalization as well as the EC 1992 project affect the process of economic and monetary union.

After decades of economic integration and EU enlargement, the economic geography of Europe has shifted, with new peripheries emerging and the core showing signs of fragmentation. This book examines the paths of the core and peripheral countries, with a focus on their diverse productive capabilities and their interdependence. Crisis in the European Monetary Union: A Core-Periphery Perspective provides a new framework for analysing the economic crisis that has shaken the Eurozone countries. Its analysis goes beyond the short-term, to study the medium and long-term relations between ‘core’ countries (particularly Germany) and Southern European ‘peripheral’ countries. The authors argue that long-term sustainability means assigning the state a key role in guiding investment, which in turn implies industrial policies geared towards diversifying, innovating and strengthening the economic structures of peripheral countries to help them thrive. Offering a fresh angle on the European crisis, this volume will appeal to students, academics and policymakers interested in the past, present and future construction of Europe.

The volume consists of twelve chapters that represent updated and revised versions of papers presented at the 11th International Conference on Finance and Banking which took place at Silesian University - School of Business Administration in Karviná, Czech Republic on 17 – 18 October 2007. The chapters are arranged in three thematic parts focusing on exchange rates, financial markets and monetary policy. The purpose of the book is to identify effects of the European monetary integration in financial systems of original, new and potential euro area member countries. The book also aims to evaluate how different are the effects in countries at different stage of the integration process and how important are the implications for national economic policies. Although each chapter is originally an independent study all of them were selected by the editors in order to create consistent book offering a rich blend of well grounded theory, innovative empirical approaches, fresh ideas, and striking conclusions. Contributors include scholars, researchers, central bankers and financial practitioners from respected universities and financial institutions. “I highly recommend this book to everyone, economist or not, who want to better understand the enormous challenges that financial systems nowadays have to face, particularly in the context of the European monetary integration. One of the main advantages of this book is that it does not reflect the opinion of only one author, but instead, it presents the views of 23 authors, all academics and qualified researchers, working in well known universities and research institutions from different EU and non EU countries.” — Candida Ferreira, Associate Professor, School of Economics and Management, Technical University of Lisbon (ISEG-UTL) and Research Unit on Complexity and Economics (UECE) “Analyzing the consequences of the European monetary integration on financial systems is certainly a challenging task, but this book tackles it very successfully by presenting a rich collection of highly original studies on the most relevant issues: exchange rate convergence of euro-candidates, inflation targeting, portfolio choice, volatility, yield curve disturbances and many others, currently debated in finance, macroeconomics and political economy. The International Conference on Finance and Banking at Silesian University in Karviná is a well established scientific event where the hottest issues in the financial scenario are analyzed from an international perspective.” — Marco Mazzoli, Associate Professor of Monetary and International Economics, Director of CESPEM, Università Cattolica del S. Cuore, Italy