The euro: It can't happen, It'sa bad idea, It won't last

Social Science Research Network, 2009

The euro and its guardian of stability: The fiction and reality of the 10th anniversary blast Working Paper, No. 583

Econ Journal Watch, 2010

Why They Thought It Couldn't Happen American (and European!) economists did not understand the politics behind EMU at the time. The political causes of EMU were revealed by Jacques Attali, adviser to French president Francois Mitterand, as late as 1998. In a television interview he said (my translation),

On-line Journal Modelling the New Europe, 2018

Soon before the euro started to circulate among European citizens, Rudiger Dornbusch (2001) wrote, about the new currency: "It can't happen, it's a bad idea, it won't last". Although not unanimously shared, this strongly pessimistic vision was behind most of the contributions that economists from the US gave to the debate on the euro since it was first publicly announced, with the publication of the Delors report in 1989. Krugman, Feldstein, Dornbusch, Bayoumi, Kenen, Eichengreen, McKinnon, Tobin and many others provided a vast literature on the (many) risks and (scarce) opportunities of the European single currency. The untimely defence of the euro by Jonung and Drea (2009) and Issing (2012) provided new material for critique to a structure of economic governance in the Eurozone manifestly unsuccessful. The aim of the paper is to illustrate the (critical) contributions that US economists gave to the debate on the EMU and the euro, attempting a new assessment of their role. Some of them may be seen as merely instrumental to hinder a project that might jeopardize the dollar hegemony in the international monetary system, and many of them rely too much on a static concept of Optimum Currency Area's criteria (as Jonung and Drea suggested). But most, further critiques should have been (and should now be) considered more seriously, in an attempt to build a framework for the long-term sustainability and success of the euro.

2005

Author(s): COHEN, BENJAMIN J | Abstract: How will the euro affect transatlantic relations? Even while partners in a political and military alliance, Europe and the United States have long been rivals in monetary affairs. Until recently, however, it was a rather one-sided contest, since Europe had no currency – not even the fabled Deutsche mark (DM) - that could effectively match the U.S. dollar as international money. Now Europe has the euro, which many have predicted will quickly emerge as a potent competitor to America’s greenback. Could growing rivalry between the dollar and the euro endanger the historic European-American partnership?

Econ Journal Watch, 2010

The Euro and the German Veto, Roland Vaubel 82-90 Outliers and the Halloween Effect: Comment on Maberly and Pierce, H. Douglas Witte 91-98

2015

The euro has survived its first decade, overcoming questions about its viability and political and economic raison d'être. “The Euro and the Dollar in the Crisis and Beyond,” a conference sponsored by Bruegel, the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, marked the milestone on March 17, 2010, with discussions of Europe's monetary integration, the euro's global role relative to the dollar and the currency's prospects in the aftermath of the 2008–09 global recession. ; Adam Posen, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute and member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England, set the tone in opening remarks, referring to “what is a very critical economic relationship and some very interesting economic issues” involving the single currency. Vítor Gaspar, a special adviser of the Banco de Portugal and former director general of research at the European Central Bank (ECB), lauded the euro's “extremely successfu...

2002

Choice Reviews Online, 2010

Chapter 1 The euro: the first decade and beyond marco buti, servaas deroose, ví tor gaspar and joã o nogueira martins 1 Part I Historical perspective 35 Chapter 2 A long-term perspective on the euro michael bordo and harold james 37 Chapter 3 Sui generis EMU barry eichengreen 72 Comment 1 Comment on Chapters 2 and 3 niels thygesen Part II OCA theory revisited Chapter 4 The OCA theory and the path to EMU francesco mongelli Chapter 5 A modern reconsideration of the OCA theory giancarlo corsetti Comment 2 Comment on Chapters 4 and 5