Euro zone Debt Crisis, Exchange Rate Policies and Accession to the European Monetary Union

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 103
Author(s):  
Douglas Castleberry ◽  
Balasundram Maniam ◽  
Geetha Subramaniam

This paper studies the history of the Euro leading up to its inception, what happened after the Euro was introduced into circulation and implications for its future. The Euro was set up to accommodate a unified currency while preserving sovereignty among nations who, less than a century ago, were mortal enemies. Preserving sovereignty weakened the ability to respond to crisis by design, and it wasnt long before the limits of the European Monetary Union were tested after a series of financial crisis threatened the very existence of the Euro. The Euro held together, yet the inability of the European Central Bank to assist member nations control subsequent debt following the financial crisis may wound the ability of the Euro to replace the dollar as the dominant world currency or even prove fatal. Greece is on the verge of collapse, and is so entangled with other Euro nations; a systemic domino effect will occur should any of the troubled member Eurozone nations collapse uncontrollably. Three options remain for the European Monetary Union, banding together and preserving the currency, grossly indebted countries exiting to preserve the health of countries which are more fiscally responsible, or the Euro may land inconsequentially between success and failure, never challenging the power of the dollar as the dominant world currency.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Christopher James Day

The ravages of two world wars and a desire to develop a politically and economically united Europe led to the establishment of the Eurozone in January 1999. The European Monetary Union was a grand experiment that brought 11 European nations under a single currency, the euro. Complexities associated with the implementation of effective fiscal, budgetary and banking coordination left the bloc vulnerable to asymmetries in the productivity and factor markets of its members. This article analyses how adoption of the euro, which prevented nominal exchange rate adjustments, impacted on the competitiveness and real economies of member states, thereby undermining the European Union’s key priority of creating balanced economic growth and productivity.


2012 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Friedrich Heinemann

SummaryThis contribution highlights the complex causes of the European debt crisis and discusses available options for a solution. Relevant causes included are debt incentives which are effective permanently, the lacking optimality of the European currency area and deficient institutional debt brakes. Furthermore, the acute dimension of the crisis as a self-fulfilling crisis of confidence with a highly destructive potential is stressed. All solution strategies face the challenge that a self-fulfilling confidence crisis cannot be contained through an improvement of long-run fundamentals alone. Based on this analysis the crisis management is assessed. One insight is that the often criticized cautious and muddling-through approach towards a permanent solution is adequate. In contrast to that, allegedly courageous solutions like the introduction of eurobonds or the quick exclusion of crisis countries from the euro zone are unconvincing. Links to the economic literature of the early 1990s prove that the risk of a debt crisis has clearly been identified and analyzed as a particular risk of the European Monetary Union well before its start.


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