Just For The Record:
Even though dandy Doug H. did not show up at any of
the six papers I presented at the EEA (including the one on
speculative bubbles in European exchange rates), I not only
forgive him, but I also want to say that I most certainly
did not intend to include him among the set of generic
Americans who don't know you know what. Heck, he's more up
on lots of data than [even] I am, a regular cosmopolite,:-).
Nor do I claim to understand more about what is going
on in terms of social and economic effects of the euro
than the Europeans. I will note that there tends to be much
more discussion of this on the Continent than in the UK.
The FT (that rag on pink paper, if not of pink ideology) is
not so concerned about such matters, especially given the
UK's continuing to hold back. But you'll find plenty in
places like _Le Monde Diplomatique_ that is quite lengthy
and thoughtful that raises the issues very sharply. It
is ironic that Jospin got in basically on critiquing the
euro fiscal crunch, but then kowtowed.
It is also opposed on the right by the National Front,
and the right libertarians in France are also opposed and I
saw one article by them claiming that it is ruse for German
hegemony, despite the fears in Germany about it.
Of course the main reason that both Sweden and Denmark
are staying out is precisely to protect their social
welfare states from the fiscal pressure that would come
from a monetarist Eurofed. And it will be that, even if
the French get their way and have Trichon in as the
Euro-Greenspan. It will have to prove to the Germans that
they did not give up the beloved Bundesbank for a pack of
Post Keynesianism.
BTW, Greece is irrelevant for the moment. Not
eligible because of too far off from meeting the macro
criteria.
Barkley Rosser
On Mon, 2 Mar 1998 15:09:17 -0500 Doug Henwood
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Rosser Jr, John Barkley wrote:
>
> > That's because you are in the US mostly reading US
> >media and lit. Everybody in Europe knows it is a big deal
> >and if you are there reading the local media at all for any
> >extended period of time it is very clear that it is a big
> >deal and that everybody knows it. It is a constant, almost
> >daily, topic of news and commentary in almost every EU
> >member.
>
> I read a British newspaper every day, so I'm not quite the provincial you
> make me out to be. That British daily, the one on pink paper, has devoted a
> lot of ink to the diplomacy and mechanics of EMU, but very little to the
> social and economic effects. There's no historical precedent for a monetary
> union on this scale - GEMU isn't exactly an inspiring precedent for the
> whole continent, is it? It seems that Europeans are sleepwalking into
> something quite momentous that their leaders have prepared for them without
> explaining it - the euro's birth is less than 10 months away. It will
> almost certainly result in more American-style financial and labor markets;
> do Europeans know that and understand what it means? Maybe, given your vast
> experience as a globe trotter, Barkley, you know better, but from my
> admittedly distant vantage point, I think not.
>
> EMU's going to have a big effect on the outside world, so the lack of
> interest on the part of that outside world is a bit unsettling too.
>
> Doug
>
>
>
--
Rosser Jr, John Barkley
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
