This book provides a unique study of the differences in economic behaviour
according to the phases of the economic cycle in the countries of the European Union.
It presents a comprehensive analysis of asymmetry in the EU over the last
forty years, and shows that the problems in the global financial crisis were readily
predictable.
The authors use empirical research and panel data to show how much economic
behaviour changes between the up and down phases of the business cycle, and the
difficulties this creates for monetary, fiscal and labour market policies. The volume
demonstrates how prescient the asymmetric design of the Stability and Growth Pact was in
trying to offset countries understandable optimism in fiscal policy, and the consequent
tendency not to manage debt successfully. It also reveals the inherent problems for
managing unemployment in an asymmetric labour market.
This book is essential reading for all interested in European economics, macroeconomics
and European integration.
DAVID G MAYES is BNZ Professor of Finance at the University of
Auckland, former Advisor to the Board at the Bank of Finland and Chief Manager at the
Reserve Bank of New Zealand. He has published widely on economic integration and provided
advice to central banks around the world.
MATTI VIREN is Professor of Economics at the University of Turku,
and scientific advisor to the Bank of Finland. He has published widely on fiscal and
monetary policy and has also served two years as a pre-accession advisor in the Polish
Ministry of Finance.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Measurement and Aggregation
Aggregate Supply and demand in an Open Economy
The Phillips Curve
Regional and Sectoral Concerns
Output, Unemployment and the Labour Market: The Okun Curve
Asymmetry and the Role of the Public Sector
Monetary Policy
Fiscal Responses
References
256 pages, Hardcover