This book offers a critical
perspective from which to observe evolution of the Euro Area and the European
Union in these times of growing economic and political conflict. Key
implications of design failures in the Euro Area (i.e. incorrect diagnostics of
the public finance crisis, single monetary policy failure, heterogeneous
macroeconomic environment, asymmetry in macroeconomic policies, obstacles for
policy coordination) and their contribution to the excessive external and
internal economic imbalances will be critically discussed from the economic,
policy and institutional perspectives. This critical insight is used to examine
both institutional asset and economic performance of Europe after the crisis,
moving from the authors’ shared perspective that the crisis revealed the weak
aspects of the whole architecture of the European Union.
The economic crisis revealed the
existence of different forms of imbalances inside the Eurozone and highlighted
the flaws of the institutional architecture of economic policy in Europe. The
greater fragility of some countries in respect to others has triggered a
backward process in which national interests have started to prevail over those
of both the currency area and the entire European Union. In turn, this has
fuelled a progressive decline in confidence in the European institutions and is
creating growing questions of interpretation both in terms of economic theory
and institutional asset. This book focuses on these issues and on the degree of
legitimacy of the European institutions resulting therefrom. It aims to
investigate the nature and validity of the European integration process
emphasizing limits and challenges arising from it.
Author Biography:
Rajmund Mirdala is Associate Professor and Head of Department of
economics at Faculty of Economics, Technical University of Kosice, Slovak
republic. He is author of five books (Fiscal Policy in the European Converging
Economies, Exchange Rates in the Central European Countries, Economic Aspects
of Capital Flows Liberalization in the European Transition Economies
(co-author), Monetary Rules and Their Importance in the Context of Monetary
Union and Economic Crisis (co-author), The Euro Area and the Economic Crisis
(co-author)). He has published 30+ articles in foreign scientific journals, 10+
articles in domestic scientific and professional journals, 40+ articles in
domestic and foreign conferences. He is principal investigator in 3 projects
from national grant schemes, deputy principal investigator in 3 projects from
national grant schemes and researcher in 8 domestic and foreign projects. He is
a member of 17 editorial boards of foreign scientific journals and reviewer for
26 domestic and foreign scientific journals (8 listed in WoS - Current
Contents). His research covers following areas: Macroeconomic and Microeconomic
Theory, Monetary Policy, Monetary Integration, International Financial
Integration, Exchange Rates, Fiscal Policy, International Capital Flows,
Transition Economies, Global Imbalances.Rosaria Rita Canale
Ph.d (Naples “Federico II” Univ.) is Associate Professor of Economic Policy at
the University of Naples “Parthenope” Her research interest include fiscal and
monetary policy, International economics and history of economic thought. She
wrote many articles on national and international refereed journals the great
part of which indexed on WoS and Scopus. She collaborates with national and
international journals as referee. Some of her recent publications are: Structural
Public Balance Adjustment and Relative Poverty in the Eurozone Countries: An
Empirical Investigation with Liotti G. in “Ekonomický časopis” vol. 64, no. 8, 2016; Trust in Institutions and Income Inequality
in the Eurozone: The Role of the Crisis with M. Bonasia, Liotti G. and
Spagnolo N. in
“Engineering Economics” vol. 27, no. 1, 2016; Capital Flows, Long Term Bond Yields and Fiscal Stance: The Eurozone Policy
Trilemma, in “Portuguese Economic Journal”, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 31-34, 2015;
On the Objective of a Sound Public
finance in the Eurozone, with Bonasia M. in “Rivista Internazionale di
Scienze Sociali”, no. 2, 2016; Structural
Adjustment and Enemployment in Eurozone with Liotti G. in “Australian
Economic review”, vol. 48, no. 2, 2015; National
Disparities and Cyclical Dynamics in Italy (1872-2007). Was Mezzogiorno a
Sheltered Economy?, with O. Napolitano in “International Review of Applied
Economics”, vol. 23, no. 3, 2015, Current
Account and Fiscal Imbalances in the Eurozone: Siamese Twins in an Asymmetrical
Currency Union with Marani U. in “International Economics And Economic
Policy”, vol. 12, no. 2, 2014; Structural Public Balance Adjustment Effects
on Growth in 25 OECD Countries and Eurozone with Liotti G. and Napolitano
O. in “Comparative Economic Studies”, vol. 56, no. 4, 2014; Alternative Strategies for Monetary Policy,
in “Review of Political Economy”, no. 3, 2011.