The creation of the European Union and later the European economic and monetary union started as a peace project and later on to make the European countries stronger and unified through economic integration The purpose of this study is to analyse the effect that EU(EZ) membership has on the economic growth of its member states. This is done by using an augmented Solow model including the GDP per capita growth rate which represents the economic growth while the EU(EZ) membership is represented by dummy variables. Other variables in the model have been included as control variables but also that are relevant for economic growth. The existing literature regarding the growth impact of the European integration is divided and is still inconclusive as seen from the different results from different studies and that could be due to the heterogeneity of the member countries, the time period studied but as well due to the methodological difficulties. Some economists have found a positive impact on economic growth, while others have not been able to find any impact at all. Thus, it could be said the growth effect from the EU(EZ) membership is a controversial subject. By using data for the OECD countries, including both EU and non-EU countries, eurozone and non-eurozone members over the time period 1990 to 2018, the results have suggested the following; EU and eurozone memberships have not contributed to economic growth of their members, while EU membership has affected negatively the growth rate of the EU countries compared to the non-EU OECD countries when the financial crisis was controlled for.

No / This chapter reviews the substantive issue of the contemporary intertwining of both national and overall EU economy in relation to the spectre of monetary union through first evaluating a country’s readiness for euro entry through a comparison between the convergence criteria stipulated in the Treaty on European Union and the theory of optimal currency areas, which leads to discussion of the economic costs and benefits of euro membership. However, given the unprecedented strain eurozone has now come under the also chapter examines the background to the current eurozone crisis; specifically, how the Global Financial Crisis induced Great Recession triggered the problems within the eurozone. Subsequently, the chapter explores how the advent of EMU has significantly redefined the operation of fiscal and monetary policy with the former retained by member states, but proscribed by EMU-wide rules, whilst the latter has been assumed by a specifically created independent central bank. Hence, the chapter explores the theoretical underpinnings of the operation of monetary and fiscal policy within EMU, where it examines the conduct, coordination and philosophy of macroeconomic policymaking. This analysis is then extended by discussing a series of potential remedies, consisting of an evaluation of EU instigated solutions, together with a series of alternative propositions. However, whilst the economic remedies to the eurozone crisis may eventually succeed, the greater long-term damage may well emerge through the political sphere with the imposition of unelected technocrat governments, together with growing dissatisfaction of mainstream political parties with support for either the far-right, protest parties, anti-euro parties, anti-EU parties, or member states losing confidence in the direction of ‘ever closer union’.

Yes / Every day the news is filled with increasingly depressing news about the economy. The recent Autumn Statement (29 November 2011) to the House of Commons by UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, confirmed that the cause of a potential ?double dip? recession in the British economy lay largely at the doors of the European Union and, in particular, the eurozone. It is easy to understand why some commentators feel that perhaps the European single currency is in its death-throes, and that the European Union itself needs major structural revisions. But for the sake of perspective it is important to remember the underlying rationale behind the ?European project? which remains as relevant today as it did in the 1950s.

In the course of eurozone exit, the underlying stocks of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) would be redenominated from euros into the new national currency. We exploit ADR investors’ exposure to currency redenomination losses to derive a novel measure of eurozone exit risk. We find that while domestic bank stocks are not significantly affected by domestic exit risk, there is a negative exposure to exit risk of other countries that is channeled through bilateral credit risk. For the real sector, exposure to eurozone exit risk is heterogeneous among industries and is less negative for more indebted companies.

This master thesis analyses the impact of the euro on the German economy. The research is conducted through the examination of German export, GDP level, and labor market. It is also supplemented with the evaluation of the past, current and future stages of the Eurozone. The thesis provides a detailed theoretical background, which explains the motivation for the creation of a common currency. As a tool to prove the validity of my hypotheses I use the synthetic control method, where I model a hypothetical case, in which Germany did not adopt the euro. The validity of my results will be tested by using the confidence intervals and comparing the RMSPE ratio. By using this unique approach, I aim to contribute to the series of academic papers about the validity of the euro. In my research I have come to the conclusion, that the euro has positively influenced Germany's economy.

The diploma thesis valuates the readiness of Czech Republic for entrance to eurozone with regard to the economic level. The thesis describes steps and procedures that were taken by governments to enable Czech Republic to enter eurozone, further the work analyzes and quantifies the most important criteria associated with the entrance of Czech Republic to eurozone. After analyzing these criteria, the work is oriented to one of real criteria-- the economic level. The general economic level and the potential for economic growth are valuated within the economic level. Czech Republic is valuated with regard to the average of eurozone 16 and with regard to countries that are below the average of eurozone 16. The work uses the basic indicator GDP per capita and other alternative indicators as for example GNP per capita. The substantial part of the thesis is the valuation of the economic potential, namely on the basis of investment in physical capital, investment in human capital, technical progress and competitiveness of economy on foreign markets. This valuation was used in the last part of the work to prognosticate the economic level of Czech Republic in 2015.

The present study proposes a model, termed the hybrid model, to explain fiscal-policy responses to financial crises. Although it is applied throughout the present study to the Eurozone, the model’s geographic and substantive scope apply more broadly. Combining and building upon past approaches, the hybrid model proposes three independent variables: partisanship, political capacity, and external actors. The model builds on the literature’s three dominant approaches: partisan, domestic approaches; approaches that emphasize convergence; and approaches that emphasize divergence, represented here primarily by the Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) literature. The hybrid model integrates the domestic emphasis of the partisan approach with the international emphases of the convergence and, to some extent, VoC approaches. The hybrid model builds on the domestic politics of the partisan approach by integrating coalition logic and the tension between coalition partners into the partisan approach’s political landscape. The model also advances the convergence and VoC approaches by providing an explanation for variation in the pressure of financial markets, both over time and across countries, which mediates the influence of external actors in the domestic affairs of sample countries. In addition, with respect to the dependent variable, the present study develops a disaggregated measure that accounts for the diverse distributional implications of fiscal policies’ various dimensions. With respect to empirics, the present study employs a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. Broadly, the large-N results provide support for the hybrid model, particularly as it pertains to partisanship. Event analyses and case studies support the role of external actors; the empirics show the degree to which financial-market pressure mediates the influence of external actors. Combined, the quantitative and qualitative approaches indicate problems with consonance, the particular dimension of political capacity considered in the present study. Both quantitative and qualitative results reveal that consonance, i.e., between-party tensions in coalition governments, provides an incomplete characterization of the factors influencing the political capacity of single-party and coalition governments. The case studies suggest that within-party tensions and party-system strength, as additional measures of political capacity, play key roles in shaping fiscal-policy responses. The empirics also confirm the importance of disaggregating fiscal policy, the dependent variable, beyond the broad measures of fiscal deficit, expenditure, and revenue adopted in the present literature.

In 2009 the sovereign debt crisis started in the European Union. Every member state was involved in the financial turmoil, in particular Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain. Why were these countries effected more so? Were they still committed to core ideas of the European Union? This paper will review this topic through the perspective of Portugal. Being a former colonial power, once having an authoritative government, and now a full-fledged member of the European Union, Portugal has a unique story to tell about the crisis at hand. This paper will evaluate different European Union principles involving gender equality, tertiary education, politics, and economics while comparing how Portugal ranks in Europeanization to the European Union specifically during the sovereign debt crisis. This paper will conclude by summarizing these topics, analyzing triumphs and setbacks, and hypothesizing Portugal's future in regard to their Europeanization of European Union standards and the current sovereign debt crisis the country faces today.

Magistro baigiamajame darbe išanalizuotas ir įvertintas Lietuvos ir Slovėnijos infliacijos, valdžios sektoriaus metinio biudžeto deficito ir bendrosios skolos, ilgalaikių Vyriausybės vertybinių popierių (VVP) palūkanų normos bei nacionalinės valiutos stabilumo lygio atitikimas konvergencijos kriterijams 2000-2008 m. laikotarpiu. Pirmoje darbo dalyje analizuojami infliacijos, valdžios sektoriaus metinio biudžeto deficito ir bendrosios skolos, ilgalaikių Vyriausybės vertybinių popierių palūkanų normos bei šalių dalyvavimo antrajame valiutų kurso mechanizme (VKM II) teoriniai aspektai – pateikiama kiekvieno iš šių kriterijų samprata, analizuojamos atsiradimo priežastys bei pasekmės, nagrinėjami vieną ar kitą reiškinį lemiantys veiksniai, pateikiami su šių makroekonominių rodiklių pokyčiais susijusių problemų sprendimo būdai. Antrojoje darbo dalyje aptariami tyrimui atlikti naudoti kiekybiniai ir kokybiniai metodai bei įvertinama jų taikymo galimybė konvergencijos kriterijų įvertinimui. Trečiojoje darbo dalyje tiriama Lietuvos ir Slovėnijos infliacijos, valdžios sektoriaus metinio biudžeto deficito ir bendrosios skolos, ilgalaikių Vyriausybės vertybinių popierių (VVP) palūkanų normos ir nacionalinės valiutos stabilumo lygio dinamika 2000-2008 m. ir identifikuojami tokį kitimą lėmę veiksniai bei priežastys. Taip pat įvertinamos Lietuvos perspektyvos ateityje įsivesti bendrąją ES valiutą – eurą ir aptariama Slovėnijos narystės euro zonoje nauda šaliai. / In the Final Master’s Degree Work there are evaluated Lithuania and Slovenia‘s inflations, government‘s annual budget deficit and gross debts, long-term government stock interest rate and national currency stability level conformity to the convergence criteria in 2000-2008. The first part of the paper explores theoretical aspects of inflation, government‘s annual budget deficit and gross debts, long-term government stock interest rate and participation of the countries in ERM II – conceptions of every of those criteria are presented, the reasons and outcomes of the appearance are being analysed, factors causing one or another occurrence are being examined, solving methods for the problems related to these macroeconomical indexes are being introduced. In the third part of the work Lithuania and Slovenia‘s inflation, long-term government‘s annual budget deficit and gross debts, long-term government stock interest rate and national currency stability level dynamics in 2000-2008 are researched and the factors and reasons that caused this kind of change are identified. Also, perspectives of Lithuania in the future to introduce the common EU currency – euro are being estimated and benefit of the Slovenia membership in the euro zone to the country is being discussed.

This paper determines the relationship between the crude oil price and the financial performance of International Oil Companies (IOCs) of the Eurozone during the last decade (from 2004 to 2013). This study is conducted around a multiple regression model with panel data with the financial performance ratios (ROA, ROE, Profit Margin) as dependent variables and the crude oil price as independent variables. A knowledge gap is visible since the crude oil price was never used as an independent variable in relation to the financial performance ratios of IOCs. In addition, the IOCs in the Eurozone have not been studied since most studies focuses on the United States and Asia. Moreover these studies focus on stock returns rather than financial performance. The research follows a quantitative approach by assessing the relationship of the crude oil price with financial performance of IOCS during the 10-year period (from 2004 to 2013) for 11 companies from 10 countries. The purpose of the study is to determine the effect of the crude oil prices on the financial performance of oil producer companies on a 10-year period using a multiple regression model with panel data. The research question therefore is:What is the relationship between the crude oil price and the International Oil Companies’ financial performance in the Eurozone during the last ten years (2004-2013)?The empirical results show that the crude oil price has a negative relationship with the financial ratios and that the crisis had an impact during that time period on the financial performance of the IOCs. It is also noted that the debt level and the size of IOCs have a strong relationship with their financial performance. The findings on the relationship between the crude oil price and the financial performance of IOCs are opposed to the results of Dayanandan & Donker study (2011). The findings of this research paper are relevant for investors and researchers looking to assess the performance of the Oil & Gas Industry so as its determinants.