Eurobondage: The Political Costs of Monetary Union in Europe [Hardcover]

This book examines the political costs of monetary union in Europe. It does so by gauging the degree to which four small European states - Iceland, Latvia, Hungary and Ireland - employed their monetary policies in response to the financial crisisThis book examines the political costs of monetary union in Europe. It does so by gauging the degree to which four small European states - Iceland, Latvia, Hungary and Ireland - employed their monetary policies in response to the financial crisis. Contrary to popular and academic perception, Moses finds that small states in Europe still enjoy monetary policy autonomy, and this autonomy was used to prioritise the needs of domestic constituents over those of international markets. Eurozone member states, by contrast, pursued policies that prioritised the (long-term) needs of international lenders and European institutions, at the (short-term) expense of their own constituents. By illustrating the degree to which monetary policy autonomy still plays an effective role in responding to economic shocks, this book documents the substantial sacrifices that states have made in joining a suboptimum currency area. These are the political costs of monetary union in Europe.Table of ContentsList of Figures and Tables xiList of Abbreviations xvPreface and Acknowledgements xixChapter One  Bound to the Mast 1Chapter Two  The Political Costs of Monetary Union 17Chapter Three  Debt and Distribution 37Chapter Four  Iceland 59Chapter Five  Ireland 87Chapter Six  Latvia 117Chapter Seven  Hungary 147Chapter Eight  Conclusion 171References 185Index 205Jonathon W. Moses is a professor of political science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), where he has taught since 1993. Moses has published several books including Emigration and Development (2011), Ways of Knowing (2007), International Migration: Globalizations Last Frontier (2006), and Norwegian Catch-up: Development and Globalization before World War II (2005). lC5