The Euro Experiment

A clear, analytical and balanced guide to the euro experiment and subsequent crisis that will appeal to a wide readership.

Paul Wallace (Author)

9781107104891, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 November 2015

353 pages, 15 b/w illus. 2 tables
23.5 x 16 x 2.1 cm, 0.73 kg

'Clear, concise, and written amid the prime parameters of acute balance - that is neither pro-euro nor pro-euro sceptic -The Euro Experiment finds Paul Wallace asking all the pertinent questions … Written by a leading commentator on the economics of the European Union, these nine chapters provide a clear and analytical guide to the advent of the euro experiment, and in my opinion, its hugely foreseeable crisis.' David Marx, David Marx: Book Reviews (davidmarxbookreviews.wordpress.com)

How and why did the euro crisis happen? What are the implications for the economic and political future of Europe? The euro is an extraordinary political and economic experiment, the results of which are still highly uncertain. This book, written by a leading commentator on the economics of the European Union, provides a clear and analytical guide to the euro experiment and the subsequent crisis. Written in a balanced way that is neither pro-euro nor euro-sceptic, it explains the political forces that helped to create and maintain the single currency. Further, it argues that the recent crisis can be best understood in terms of six fundamental issues: sovereign debt, banking, private debt, macroeconomic imbalances, defective economic governance, and the interplay of national and European politics. This accessible account will appeal to a wide readership, including general readers and students as well academics and policymakers working in banking and public policy.

Preface
1. A question of survival
2. Defective design
3. Fragile strength
4. Greeks bearing debts
5. Bad banks
6. Hotel California: the existential crisis
7. Defender of last resort
8. Sovereign remedies
9. Debtors' prison
Notes
Index.

Subject Areas: Banking [KFFK], Finance [KFF], Political economy [KCP], Monetary economics [KCBM], Macroeconomics [KCB], Economics [KC], EU & European institutions [JPSN2]