Descriptif

This course focuses on the main steps of economic European integration, trade integration and monetary integration, from a double historical and economic perspective. In each case (customs union, common market, monetary union, recent developments in the monetary union), the objective is first to replace European integration in its historical context (economic and political history), and second to study the tools of economic theory that are relevant to analyse each successive step.

The course will thus deal with approaches such as comparative political economy and European economic history on one hand, the microeconomics of a customs union, new trade theories and commons markets, the optimum currency area approach, the post-keynesian approach to the monetary union, the time inconsistency literature, etc., on the other hand. The aim is to discuss such questions as: Why was the European monetary system doomed at the end of the 1980s? What were the political and social conditions enabling the signature of the Maastricht Treaty? Why have some new member states joined EMU and not the others? To what extent was each step of the European integration process justified by economic analysis ex ante? Why is the independence of the ECB so crucial in the adoption of EMU and in its operation? Etc…

The course will rely on reading research articles in economics and political science and presentations by students.

Textbooks:

- Baldwin R., Wyplosz C., 2015, The Economics of European Integration, McGraw Hill, 5^th edition.

- Dyson, K., Marcussen, M., eds., 2009, Central banks in the age of the Euro: Europeanization, convergence and power, Oxford University Press.

Localisation: ENS-Cachan

Enseignant: Caroline Vincensini

Langue du cours : Anglais

Credits ECTS : 2