The Price of the Euro

187 Pages·2004·0.876 MB·English

by  Jonas Ljungberg

The Price of the Euro
Edited by
Jonas Ljungberg
The Price of the Euro
This page intentionally left blank
The Price of the Euro
Edited by
Jonas Ljungberg
Department of Economic History
Lund University, Sweden
Selection, editorial matter and Chapters 1 and 3 © Jonas Ljungberg 2004
Chapters 2–7 and 9 © Palgrave Macmillan Ltd 2004
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP.
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as
the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2004 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
Companies and representatives throughout the world
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave
Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom
and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European
Union and other countries.
ISBN 1–4039–3497–5
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
managed and sustained forest sources.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Eurons pris. English.
The price of the Euro/edited by Jonas Ljungberg.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1–4039–3497–5 (cloth)
1. Euro. 2. Economic and Monetary Union. 3. Monetary union—
European Union countries. 4. Monetary union—Sweden. 5. Europe—
Economic integration. I. Ljungberg, Jonas. II. Title.
HG925.E873913 2004
332.4′94—dc22 2004043619
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham and Eastbourne
Contents
List of Tables vii
List of Figures viii
Notes on the Contributors ix
Preface xi
1 Introduction 1
Jonas Ljungberg
2 Borders Matter: Why the Euro is a Mistake and
Why it will Fail 29
Arjo Klamer
3 The Stability Pact: A Macroeconomic Straitjacket! 45
Jesper Jespersen
4 The Euro in its Fifth Year: Expectations Fulfilled? 59
Renate Ohr
5 The ECB and the Decline of European Democracy 71
James Forder
6 A Critical Analysis of EMU and of Sweden Joining It 87
Roland Vaubel
7 The UK and the Euro: Politics versus Economics
in a Long-Run Perspective 97
James Foreman-Peck
8 The EMU in a European Perspective: Lessons from
Monetary Regimes in the Twentieth Century 121
Jonas Ljungberg
v
vi Contents
9 National Policy in Disguise: A Historical
Interpretation of the EMU 143
Hans Albin Larsson
Index 171
List of Tables
1.1 The cost of the euro compared with the krona 24
6.1 Relative price changes vis-à-vis France, all EU
member states, 1975–98, per cent per annum 89
6.2 Relative price changes vis-à-vis the US dollar,
1992–8, per cent per annum 90
6.3 Minimizing the standard deviation of relative
price changes vis-à-vis the US, 1992–8, per annum 91
8.1 Annual percentage change in GDP per capita
1950–2002, and GDP per capita levels in 1993 137
vii
List of Figures
3.1 Sweden: unemployment and budget of the
public sector 53
8.1 Exchange rate and real GDP per capita:
Denmark compared with Germany 124
8.2 Exchange rate and real GDP per capita:
France compared with Germany 124
8.3 Exchange rate and real GDP per capita:
Italy compared with Germany 125
8.4 Exchange rate and real GDP per capita:
Britain compared with Germany 125
8.5 Exchange rate and real GDP per capita:
Sweden compared with Germany 126
8.6 Percentage change in GDP per capita 1929–35
in countries with different monetary regimes 130
9.1 Supranational power and ideology 152
9.2 Politics and supranationality versus nationalism I 154
9.3 Politics and supranationality versus nationalism II 156
viii
Notes on the Contributors
James Forder is Lecturer in Economics at Balliol College, Oxford
University, United Kingdom.
James Foreman-Peck is Professor of Economics and Director of
the Welsh Institute for Research in Economics and Development
atCardiff Business School, United Kingdom.
Jesper Jespersen is Professor of Economics at Roskilde University,
Denmark.
Arjo Klamer is Professor of Cultural Economics at Erasmus University
Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Hans Albin Larsson is Professor of History at the School of Education
and Communication, Jönköping University, Sweden.
Jonas Ljungberg is Associate Professor of Economic History at Lund
University, Sweden.
Renate Ohr is Professor of Economics at the Georg-August University
of Göttingen, Germany.
Roland Vaubel is Professor of Economics at the University of
Mannheim, Germany.
ix