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The Euro: A currency in search of a state

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Bill Lucarelli
Bill Lucarelli*
Affiliation:
University of Western Sydney, Australia
*
Bill Lucarelli, Economics and Finance, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South DC, New South Wales 2751 Australia. Email: b.lucarelli@uws.edu.au
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Abstract

To understand the structural dynamics of the current eurozone crisis, it is necessary to examine the longstanding internal contradictions that the system has inherited from its inception under the Maastricht Treaty and the neoliberal strategy which has governed its evolution from the first experiments in economic and monetary union in the 1970s. A brief narrative of the evolution of the European Monetary Union yields some insights into its peculiar institutional design. More specifically, the article examines the dangerously self-reinforcing logic between speculative bond markets and cascading, deflationary policies of austerity imposed on those countries encountering severe debt crises. This examination reveals the fragile foundations upon which the eurozone was constructed.

Keywords

B5B14B16B23Capitalcrisisdebteuroeurozonemonetarymoney
Type
Articles
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 25 , Issue 3: Special issue - Crisis, Austerity, Neoliberalism and alternatives , September 2014 , pp. 484 - 496
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2014

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