The European Union's Structures and Procedures for Macroeconomic Policy Coordination - Do They Amount to a Form of "Economic Government"?

The European Union's Structures and Procedures for Macroeconomic Policy Coordination - Do They Amount to a Form of Author: Sara Buckow
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3640983823
Category : Political Science
Languages : de
Pages : 45

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Book Description
Essay aus dem Jahr 2010 im Fachbereich Politik - Internationale Politik - Thema: Europäische Union, University of Bath, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: "To become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion" was the main objective at the Lisbon European Council meeting in 2000 (European Commission, 2002). A decade later - in March 2010 - the Commission set a new strategic goal under the name "Europe 2020". Achieving a "new economic policy coordination process" and again "smart, sustainable and inclusive growth" are the aims of this strategy announced by the Commission in 2010 (European Commission 2010). It becomes obvious that realising these goals requires harmonious coordination of macroeconomic policies. Therefore, this essay explores the different structures and procedures in place to coordinate the macroeconomic policy in the European Union (EU). It will focus upon fiscal and monetary policy-making as well as the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines and the Stability and Growth pact against the background of current debates. Identifying gaps in the policy-making processes will be the emphasis of the first part whereas the second part will be devoted to the exploring whether a form of "Economic Government" exists. This essay argues that the discrepancy between supranational monetary policy-making and national fiscal policy-making is an obstacle to the achievement of "Economic Government". Due to increasing interdependence in form of institutions such as the Single Market and especially the introduction of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), coordination has become an imperative. In the view of the European Commission (2002), coordination of economic policies is highly desirable in order to "account for direct cross-border spillover effects of national policies on neighbouring countries". For instance, policy decisions on a national level have an impact on the inflation and exchange rates, which in turn influences the European Central Bank's (ECB) policy decision-making. Begg et al (2003) categorise arising expenses as social costs, as established fiscal policies become destructive to previously implemented guidelines and harm the stability of the overall coordination. Thus a coherent coordination system reduces social costs. [...]

The European Union's Structures and Procedures for Macroeconomic Policy Coordination - Do They Amount to a Form of "Economic Government"?

The European Union's Structures and Procedures for Macroeconomic Policy Coordination - Do They Amount to a Form of Author: Sara Buckow
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3640983823
Category : Political Science
Languages : de
Pages : 45

Get Book Here

Book Description
Essay aus dem Jahr 2010 im Fachbereich Politik - Internationale Politik - Thema: Europäische Union, University of Bath, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: "To become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion" was the main objective at the Lisbon European Council meeting in 2000 (European Commission, 2002). A decade later - in March 2010 - the Commission set a new strategic goal under the name "Europe 2020". Achieving a "new economic policy coordination process" and again "smart, sustainable and inclusive growth" are the aims of this strategy announced by the Commission in 2010 (European Commission 2010). It becomes obvious that realising these goals requires harmonious coordination of macroeconomic policies. Therefore, this essay explores the different structures and procedures in place to coordinate the macroeconomic policy in the European Union (EU). It will focus upon fiscal and monetary policy-making as well as the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines and the Stability and Growth pact against the background of current debates. Identifying gaps in the policy-making processes will be the emphasis of the first part whereas the second part will be devoted to the exploring whether a form of "Economic Government" exists. This essay argues that the discrepancy between supranational monetary policy-making and national fiscal policy-making is an obstacle to the achievement of "Economic Government". Due to increasing interdependence in form of institutions such as the Single Market and especially the introduction of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), coordination has become an imperative. In the view of the European Commission (2002), coordination of economic policies is highly desirable in order to "account for direct cross-border spillover effects of national policies on neighbouring countries". For instance, policy decisions on a national level have an impact on the inflation and exchange rates, which in turn influences the European Central Bank's (ECB) policy decision-making. Begg et al (2003) categorise arising expenses as social costs, as established fiscal policies become destructive to previously implemented guidelines and harm the stability of the overall coordination. Thus a coherent coordination system reduces social costs. [...]

Economic Government of the EU

Economic Government of the EU PDF Author: C. Meyer
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 023062572X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
The creation of Monetary Union marked a major step in the evolution of the European Union. Is the EU now taking the next step of deeper integration towards a fully-fledged economic government? The book seeks to answer this question by studying the evolution, execution and performance of new modes of economic policy co-ordination as potential stepping-stones towards more institutionalized forms of economic governance.

Macroeconomic Policy Coordination in EMU

Macroeconomic Policy Coordination in EMU PDF Author: Theresa Petra Hauck
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3668298351
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description
Bachelor Thesis from the year 2016 in the subject Economics - Macro-economics, general, grade: 1,0, University of Bamberg, language: English, abstract: The financial crisis and the subsequent European sovereign debt crisis have highlighted the high degree of interdependence among EMU member states. The crisis period made much more clear that a macroeconomic policy coordination framework is indispensable as there is great sensibility and high risk for contagion effects. The structure of EMU in its highest level of integration as of one monetary authority vis-à-vis many fiscal authorities brings about several specific aspects regarding coordination. In order to achieve and ensure economic stability in such a unique constellation there have been established several measures and frameworks with the Stability and Growth Pact as the centre point. Designed on the grounds of and motivated by the objective of stabilising the overall economy, the pact promotes fiscal discipline through limiting government deficits and debts in order to prevent adverse fiscal spillover effects and freeriding behaviour of national fiscal authorities which could risk price and overall macroeconomic stability of the common currency area. This however brings about limitations for governments to discretionarily react to national economic needs and conditions. This bachelor thesis addresses the resulting tension between a theoretical and fundamental need for macroeconomic policy coordination in a monetary union environment and the politico-economic reality. The main goals are: to examine the main arguments in favour and against the pact under the areas of content, objectives and enforcement design; to highlight the resulting trade-offs; and to link these to developments and reforms of the pact but also to different economic contexts, namely the time period before and the time period during and after the crisis. The main finding is that reforms regarding macroeconomic policy coordination which were introduced after the beginning of the crisis period do not represent a rearrangement of the SGP framework and rather address the same debate on economic trade-offs only with a changed set of conditions. The reforms regarding the pact can be described as developments refocusing on the core of the pact while still shifting it in the directions of some propositions along with criticism which had been expressed long before the crisis period.

Macroeconomic Policy Coordination in Europe

Macroeconomic Policy Coordination in Europe PDF Author: Joachim Scheide
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description


Economic Policy Coordination in the Euro Area

Economic Policy Coordination in the Euro Area PDF Author: Armin Steinbach
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317689623
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
The European debt crisis has given new impetus to the debate on economic policy coordination. In economic literature, the need for coordination has long been denied based on the view that fiscal, wage and monetary policy actors should work independently. However, the high and persistent degree of macroeconomic disparity within the EU and the absence of an optimum currency area has led to new calls for examining policy coordination. This book adopts an institutional perspective, exploring the incentives for policymakers that result from coordination mechanisms in the fields of fiscal, monetary and wage policy. Based on the concept of externalities, the work examines cross-border spillovers (e.g. induced by fiscal policy) and cross-policy spillovers (e.g. between fiscal and monetary policies), illuminating how they have empirically changed over time and how they have been addressed by policymakers. Steinbach introduces a useful classification scheme that distinguishes between vertical and horizontal coordination as well as between cross-border and cross-policy coordination. The author discusses farther-reaching forms of fiscal coordination (e.g. debt limits, insolvency proceedings, Eurobonds) with special attention to how principals of state organization affect their viability. Federal states and Bundesstaaten differ in the incentives they offer for debt accumulation – and thus in their suitability for fiscal coordination. Steinbach finds that the originally strict separation between policy areas has undergone significant change during the debt crisis. Indeed, recent efforts to coordinate policy are no longer limited to one policy area, but now extend to several areas. Steinbach argues that further fiscal policy coordination can be effectively deployed to address policy externalities, but that the coordination mechanisms used must match the form of state organization in the first place. Regarding wage policies, there are significant barriers to coordination. Notwithstanding some empirical successes in the implementation of a productivity-oriented wage policy, the high heterogeneity of national wage-setting institutions is likely to prevent any wage coordination.

Coordination of Monetary and Fiscal Policies

Coordination of Monetary and Fiscal Policies PDF Author: International Monetary Fund
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1451844239
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 33

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Book Description
Recently, monetary authorities have increasingly focused on implementing policies to ensure price stability and strengthen central bank independence. Simultaneously, in the fiscal area, market development has allowed public debt managers to focus more on cost minimization. This “divorce” of monetary and debt management functions in no way lessens the need for effective coordination of monetary and fiscal policy if overall economic performance is to be optimized and maintained in the long term. This paper analyzes these issues based on a review of the relevant literature and of country experiences from an institutional and operational perspective.

One Market, One Money

One Market, One Money PDF Author: Michael Emerson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780198773245
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
The European Community is negotiating a new treaty to establish the constitutional foundations of an economic and monetary union in the course of the 1990s. This study provides the only comprehensive guide to the economic implications of economic and monetary union. The work of an economist inside the Commission of the European Community, it reflects the considerations influencing the design of the union. The study creates a unique bridge between the insights of modern economic analysis and the work of the policy makers preparing for economic and monetary union.

The Coordination of the European Union

The Coordination of the European Union PDF Author: Andrew Jordan
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
All policy systems are struggling to respond to wicked policy problems like international terrorism, drug crime and unsustainable development, none more so than the European Union (EU) which is renowned for its fluidity, deeply sectorized structures and weak political leadership. As the traditional mode of coordinating - essentially issuing regulation - no longer commands sufficient political support, the EU has turned to what are increasingly termed soft or 'new' modes of governance, which rely upon different actors working together in relatively non-hierarchical networks. New modes of governance are in vogue because they appear to provide the EU with a new way to add value to national level activities without the slow and process of agreeing new legislation or the cost associated with building new administrative capacities in Brussels. This analysis provides the first book-length account of how effective network-based modes are at addressing problems that simultaneously demand greater levels of horizontal and vertical coordination. Taking, as an example, the thirty year struggle to build environmental thinking into all areas and levels of EU policy making, it systematically explores the steps that two major EU institutions (the European Commission and the European Parliament), and three member states (Germany, the Netherlands and the UK) have (not) taken to build effective networked governance. By blending state of the art theories with new empirical findings, it offers a stark reminder that networked governance is not and has never been a panacea. Coordinating networks do not spontaneously 'self organise' in the EU; they have to be carefully designed as part of a repertoire of different coordinating instruments. The book concludes that the EU urgently needs to devote more of its time to the more mundane but important task of auditing and managing network, which, paradoxically, is an exercise in hierarchy. In so doing, this book helps to strip away some of the rhetorical claims made about the novelty and appeal of new modes, to reveal a much more sober and realistic appraisal of their coordinating potential.

The Legal Strength of Council Recommendations Issued in the Procedures of EU Macroeconomic Coordination

The Legal Strength of Council Recommendations Issued in the Procedures of EU Macroeconomic Coordination PDF Author: Martinho Pires
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Most of the activity of European Union (EU) institutions in the area of macroeconomic coordination is done through recommendations issued by the Council, that are formally non-binding acts, where the EU advises Member States on economic and budgetary policies. Recent reforms of the Economic and Monetary Union led to an increase of the EU's capacities regarding macroeconomic coordination, conferring to the Council and the Commission enhanced powers for supervising, monitoring and assessing the fiscal and economic situation of Member States. The reform also added reinforced sanctionatory mechanisms, establishing penalties for Member States that fail to comply with the rules, targets and EU acts in the area of economic governance. There seems then to be a normative tension or mismatch between the form and substance of the soft law acts of macroeconomic coordination and the hard law procedures to enforce them. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and discuss this tension, and to measure and understand to what extent are Council recommendations in this policy area binding upon EU Member States. This paper uses the conceptual tools provides by theories of soft law and empirical assessments on the compliance level with recommendations to answer its question.

Flexible Integration

Flexible Integration PDF Author:
Publisher: Centre for Economic Policy Research
ISBN: 9781898128229
Category : Den Europæiske Union
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
Flexible Integration is a model of reform designed to overcome the current stalemate between federalists and anti-federalists. It introduces more flexibility to accommodate the heterogeneous interests in Europe without risking the gains achieved through past integration. Flexible integration combines firm commitment by all members to a supranational common baseincluding a well-defined set of competences related to the Single Market - with optional integration in other areas through open partnerships.