The Euro and International Financial Stability

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Efthymios G. Tsionas

   Pages 1-3

3. What Went Wrong with the Euro?

   • Efthymios G. Tsionas

   Pages 5-15

4. Public Debt: Introductory Remarks

   • Efthymios G. Tsionas

   Pages 17-19

5. Was the Eurozone an Acceptable Currency Union?

   • Efthymios G. Tsionas

   Pages 21-22

6. Preconditions of a Monetary Union

   • Efthymios G. Tsionas

   Pages 23-26

7. What was the Theory Behind the Formation of EMU?

   • Efthymios G. Tsionas

   Pages 27-28

8. Will the Eurozone Dissolve into its Constituents?

   • Efthymios G. Tsionas

   Pages 29-35

9. Can There be an Efficient Dissolution of a Monetary Union?

   • Efthymios G. Tsionas

   Pages 37-43

10. Complete Fiscal Freedom in the Transition Period?

    • Efthymios G. Tsionas

    Pages 45-49

11. Understanding Crises and Recessions

    • Efthymios G. Tsionas

    Pages 51-55

12. Will Bailouts Lead to a Dissolution of the Euro?

    • Efthymios G. Tsionas

    Pages 57-60

13. On the Destabilizing Effects of Bailouts

    • Efthymios G. Tsionas

    Pages 61-63

14. On Sound Money and Credit Conditions

    • Efthymios G. Tsionas

    Pages 65-78

15. The Case of Free Banking

    • Efthymios G. Tsionas

    Pages 79-84

16. The Explosion of Public Debts

    • Efthymios G. Tsionas

    Pages 85-88

17. The Current Policies of the ECB

    • Efthymios G. Tsionas

    Pages 89-97

18. Some Remarks on the Greek Problem

    • Efthymios G. Tsionas

    Pages 99-104

19. Can There be Stable Currencies After the Euro?

    • Efthymios G. Tsionas

    Pages 105-117

20. The Gold Standard and Free Banking

    • Efthymios G. Tsionas

    Pages 119-126

As a result of the financial crisis, the weaknesses of the Eurozone, including the public debt crisis, materialized in severe depressions in certain of its country members. In this monograph, the author analyzes structural weaknesses of the Eurozone and argues that they can be traced to (i) institutional differences, (ii) differences in the economic structures, (iii) the fundamental inability of European Bureaucracy to deal with crises, and (iv) the extreme rigidity of markets which prevents a general equilibrium in product and credit markets. He concludes that whether the Eurozone is sustainable, depends on future monetary and credit policies, and discusses the implications of reforming it in the best interest of the international banking and financial system. The recent policies of the ECB of “cheap” credit expansion are examined in detail. The approach of the work is along the lines of von Mises’ and Hayek’s Austrian tradition; additionally, substantive international empirical evidence supporting this Austrian approach is presented.

• Credit and Business Cycle
• Eurozone and European Union
• Financial Stability
• Hayek and von Mises
• Monetary Economics

• Athens University of Economics and Business, Athens, Greece

  Efthymios G. Tsionas

Efthymios (Mike) Tsionas is Professor of Economics at the Athens University of Economics and Business. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota (1994) and served as alternate member of the Economic and Financial Committee of the European Union (1997-2000). He has more than 100 academic publications in such journals as Review of Economic Studies, Journal of the American Statistical Association, Journal of Econometrics, Journal of Applied Econometrics, Econometrics Journal, Journal of Development Economics, Oxford Bulletin of Economic and Statistics, Advances in Econometrics etc.

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