TY  - JOUR
AU  - Eichengreen,Barry
TI  - Sui Generis EMU
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13740
PY  - 2008
Y2  - January 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13740
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13740.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Barry Eichengreen
Department of Economics
University of California, Berkeley
549 Evans Hall 3880
Berkeley, CA 94720-3880
Tel: 510/642-2772
Fax: 510/643-0926
E-Mail: eichengr@econ.Berkeley.edu
AB  - The thesis of this paper is that there is no historical precedent for Europe's monetary union (EMU).  While it is possible to point to similar historical experiences, the most obvious of which were in the 19th century, occurred in Europe, and had "union" as part of their names, EMU differs from these earlier monetary unions.  The closer one looks the more uncomfortable one becomes with the effort to draw parallels on the basis of historical experience.  It is argued that efforts to draw parallels between EMU and monetary unions past are more likely to mislead than to offer useful insights. Where history is useful is not in drawing parallels but in pinpointing differences.  It is useful for highlighting what is distinctive about EMU.
ER  -