No description available.

Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral)--Technische Universität Braunschweig, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

This study examines the relationship between economic and monetary integration culminating in Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and welfare state trajectories focusing on the cases of Belgium, Italy, and Greece in the 1990s. The conventional wisdom on this relationship expected that EMU would lead to across-the-board downsizing of the European welfare states through imposing macroeconomic austerity in general and budgetary restraint in particular. The study questions the validity of this prediction which is represented by the austerity hypothesis. Based on an analysis of social expenditure data in the run-up to EMU the study reveals that spending levels remained largely stable and therefore that the welfare states of the EMU-candidates largely escaped radical retrenchment. Avoiding significant and systematic expenditure retreat was possible not only in the face of powerful fiscal pressures but also during a period when policymakers had the opportunity to justify even the most draconian measures in the name of achieving EMU membership. Hence the study addresses the following puzzle: How could Europe's welfare states largely avert across-the-board downsizing during the 1990s despite fiscal pressures they faced on the road to EMU? Through an examination of episodes of welfare reform in three critical cases (Belgium, Italy, and Greece) which needed to go through drastic budgetary cutbacks for EMU membership, the study shows that the Maastricht criteria did compel successive governments in these member states to propose radical welfare reforms, vindicating the conventional wisdom's expectations. In episodes of welfare reform, however, governments discovered that their reform capacities were largely limited due to domestic opposition from an alliance of entrenched interests. The convergence period was marred with recurrent mass mobilization of unions against welfare reforms which forced governments to scale back their original ambitions or scrap them altogether. This shows that the expectations of the conventional wisdom that EMU would actually lead to massive retrenchment of Europe's welfare states, however, are not borne out by the evidence on welfare state trajectories in the 1990s.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Georgetown University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

We present a two-country New Open Economy Macro model of the Austrian economy within the European Union's Economic & Monetary Union (EMU). The model includes both nominal and real frictions that have proven to be important in matching business cycle facts, and that allows for an investigation of the effects and cross-country transmission of a number of structural shocks: shocks to technologies, shocks to preferences, cost-push type shocks and policy shocks. The model is estimated using Bayesian methods on quarterly data covering the period of 1976:Q1- 2005:Q1. In addition to the assessment of the relative importance of various shocks, the model also allows to investigate effects of the monetary regime switch with the final stage of the EMU and investigates in how far this has altered macroeconomic transmission. We find that Austria's economy appears to react stronger to demand shocks, while in the rest of the Euro Area supply shocks have a stronger impact. Comparing the estimations on pre-EMU and EMU subsamples we find that the contribution of (rest of the) Euro Area shocks to Austria's business cycle fluctuations has increased significantly. (author´s abstract) / Series: EI Working Papers / Europainstitut

Economic and monetary integration efforts in West Africa over the past several decades have been highly problematic. However, with the recent commitment of the international community and key international institutions to assist Africa bring about economic advancement, such integration can be achieved. It is within this context of renewed optimism for Africa that this thesis aims to address the role of law and institutions in facilitating closer economic integration and eventual monetary union among the Anglophone states of West Africa This thesis proposes that legal infrastructure and institutions will help achieve and sustain the WAMZ monetary union. It argues for the development of appropriate infrastructural "pillars" for such a union, which would be brought about by comprehensive regional treaty provisions and structures in conjunction with complementary domestic legal and institutional reforms. It focuses specifically on the existence of adequate legal and institutional framework for the integration of the banking markets, central bank independence, and fiscal management in Member States. In assessing these issues, a comparative analysis is provided between the Monetary Union proposed by the Anglophone West African states (WAMZ) and those of the Francophone West African states (WAMU) and the European Union. Nigeria is used as a case study in assessing the state of preparedness of the Member States of this proposed Union, since it has the largest economy in the sub-region and is the main political driving force behind the project of integration. This thesis is divided into two parts comprising six chapters. Part one, consisting of three chapters, considers the legal and institutional requirements for economic integration. Chapter One presents the preliminary background by considering the relevant theories of economic integration and by assessing the benefits and possible drawbacks of such integration within the context of West Africa. Chapter Two provides a historical analysis of economic regional efforts in Anglophone West Africa. This assessment shows that failures of these efforts are attributed, in part, to inadequate legal and institutional arrangements at the regional level. Chapter Three considers the domestic legal and institutional requirements for effective participation in an economic integration arrangement and provides a case study on Nigeria. Chapters Four to Six constitute part two of the work and assess the legal and institutional framework for the proposed monetary union. This second part considers, specifically, whether Member States possess the legal and institutional requirements for the integration of their banking markets, for the preservation of central bank independence and for the effective conduct of fiscal management. By using international standards of best practices, these Chapters assess the adequacy of relevant institutions in Nigeria, which are necessary preconditions for supporting the proposed monetary union.

Thesis (M.A.). / Written for the Dept. of Political Science. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/03/12). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Economics, June 2002. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.