The Travails of the Eurozone

In its first few years the Eurozone seems to have experienced slow growth, with continuing high unemployment, and it has been subjected to a range of adverse comment, particularly in the 'Anglo-Saxon' press. This book brings together leading economists from Germany, Ireland, Italy, Slovakia and the US as well as the UK, to examine these 'trevails' of the Eurozone. The authors investigate the operation of monetary and fiscal policy in the Eurozone, the extent of structural reform and the reasons for it, and other topics from the possible inflation increases in the 2002 notes and coin changeover through the nature and extent of financial integration to the causes of the euro's fall and rise against the dollar and the prospects for the Central and Eastern European countries joining EMU. The papers are generally accessible, but informed by the latest in analytical and empirical research.