| CODE | EST5400 | |||||||||
| TITLE | The European Community's Internal Market and Economic and Monetary Union | |||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | |||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | Not Applicable | |||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 6 | |||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | European Studies | |||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | The study-unit focuses on the economic analysis of the EC’s Internal Market and of EMU. The study-unit aims to provide a rigorous theoretical framework and to familiarise students with applied policy analysis in these fields. Ultimately students should be able to analyse critically the rationale behind the current framework and the future prospects of the Single Market and EMU. Students are expected to go through the references prior to attending the seminar to ensure active participation and discussion. A general text on the economic issues relating to the European Union is: Ali El-Agraa (2007) “The European Union Economics and Policies”, Cambridge University Press, 8th edition. The usefulness of this book is that it provides a very accessible introduction to the subject. Additional references are included under the seminar headings. The suggested readings are all core texts. However, students are encouraged to do their own research to enrich their background in the subject. Seminar 1: Introduction The seminar consists of an overview of the material to be covered and how each topic is related to the others. The learning outcome of the study-unit is also explained. - A historical overview of the Single Market can be found on: - http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/top_layer/index_2_en.htm Seminar 2: Perfect Competition The seminar highlights the main features of the perfect competition model. Progress in the Single Market is seen as an attempt to bring economic activity within the European Union closer to this theoretical benchmark. Limitations of the perfect competition model and resulting policy implications are also discussed. Reference: - Mankiw (2007) “Principles of Economics”, South-Western, 4th edition. - Lipsey R. and A. Chrystal (2003) “Economics”, Oxford University Press, 10th edition. Seminar 3: The Effects of the Single Market The seminar focuses on the effects of the Single European Market from a microeconomic and macroeconomic perspective. A priori theoretical explanations and empirical findings are discussed. References: - European Commission (2007) “Steps towards a deeper economic integration: The Internal Market in the 21st Century” available on: http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/publication784_en.pdf - European Commission (2007) “The Single Market: Review of Achievements” available on http://ec.europa.eu/citizens_agenda/docs/sec_2007_1521_en.pdf - European Commission Future Single Market Policy available on http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/strategy/index_en.htm - The Economist (2007; February 24) “Singling out the market”, page 34. - Baldwin R. (1989) “On the growth effects of 1992”, NBER Working Paper 3119, available on http://www.nber.org/papers/w3119.pdf - European Commission (1988) “1992 The Benefits of a Single Market”. - European Commission (2005) “Better off in Europe: How the EU’s Single Market Benefits You”, available on: - http://ec.europa.eu/publications/booklets/move/56/index_en.htm Seminar 4: Applied Economic Analysis The seminar focuses on recent developments relating to the Single Market. Students are encouraged to frequently refer to the European Commission’s Internal Market website available on: - http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/index_en.htm In particular, students should refer to the Single Market News available on: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/smn/published-old_en.htm Other references: - Nicodeme G. and J. Sauner-Leroy (2004) “Product market reforms and productivity: a review of the theoretical and empirical literature on the transmission channels”, available on: - http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/publication524_en.pdf - Nsouli S et al (2002) “The Speed of Adjustment of Economic Reforms: Issues and Guidelines for Policymakers”, IMF Working Paper 02/132 available on: - http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2002/wp02132.pdf Seminar 5: The Maastricht Criteria The seminar focuses on the how a country’s eligibility to adopt the euro is assessed by the European Commission and the European Central Bank. The five economic criteria pertaining to price stability, the fiscal deficit, public debt, the exchange rate and the long term interest rate are evaluated in terms of their theoretical justifications and possible limitations. The references for this seminar are the Convergence Reports published by the European Commission and the European Central Bank, at least once every two years or at the request of a Member State. These reports asses the progress made in the fulfilment by the Member States of their obligations regarding the achievement of economic and monetary union. These reports are available on: - http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/specpub_list9259.htm - http://www.ecb.int/pub/convergence/html/index.en.html Other references: - Buiter W. (2005) “The sense and nonsense of Maastricht revisited: What have we learnt about stabilisation in EMU” available on: - http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/europeanInstitute/pdfs/Buiter_presentation.pdf Seminar 6: The Monetary Policy of the ECB The seminar discusses the theoretical framework underpinning the conduct of monetary policy by the ECB. In particular it focuses on the role of monetary policy and the benefits of price stability; the transmission mechanism; the monetary policy strategy; and the definition of price stability. The main reference is “The monetary policy of the ECB”, 2nd edition, published by the ECB in 2004 which is available on: http://www.ecb.int/mopo/html/index.en.html Students are also encouraged to follow the speeches of the Presidents of the ECB and other Board Members available on: http://www.ecb.int/press/key/speaker/pres/html/index.en.html Seminar 7: The Two Pillars of the ECB’s monetary policy strategy The seminar focuses the ECB’s approach to organising, evaluating and cross-checking the information relevant for assessing the risks to price stability based on two analytical perspectives, referred to as the two ‘pillars’. This analysis is organised on the basis of two complementary perspectives on the determination of price developments. The first perspective, ‘economic analysis’ is aimed at assessing the short to medium-term determinants of price developments, with a focus on real activity and financial conditions in the economy. The second perspective, referred to as the ‘monetary analysis’ focuses on a longer-term horizon, exploiting the long-run link between money and prices. The monetary analysis mainly serves as a means of cross-checking, from a medium to long-term perspective, the short to medium-term indications for monetary policy coming from the economic analysis. The main reference is the “The monetary policy of the ECB”, 2nd edition, published by the ECB in 2004 which is available on: - http://www.ecb.int/mopo/html/index.en.html Other references: - ECB (2000, November) “The Two-pillars of the ECB’s monetary policy strategy”, ECB Monthly Bulletin, available on: - http://www.ecb.int/pub/mb/html/index.en.html Seminar 8: The Monetary Policy Decision The seminar focuses on the ECB’s communication of the monthly interest rate decision. Details on the monthly press conference with the introductory statement by the President of the ECB together with the journalists’ questions and answers are found on: - http://www.ecb.int/press/pressconf/2008/html/index.en.html Further analysis supporting the ECB’s monthly monetary policy decisions is presented in the Monthly Bulletin published by the ECB which is available on: - http://www.ecb.int/pub/mb/html/index.en.html |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Seminar | |||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Moira Catania |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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