Title: Looking backwards and living forwards: the EMU and the history of monetary unions in Western Europe

Authors: Daniel Barbezat

Addresses: Department of Economics, Amherst College, Amherst, MA, USA

Abstract: European monetary history prior to 1950 presents many attempts at international monetary coordination, but none were as bold and as far reaching as the European Monetary Union envisioned in the Delors Report of 1989 and enacted through the 1991 Treaty on the European Union in Maastricht. This paper looks backwards to past monetary unions in Western Europe and the transition of the international reserve currency from the Pound Sterling to the US Dollar to understand better the implications of the first decade of the Euro and to extend this understanding forwards to Europe and beyond.

Keywords: Economic and Monetary Union; EMU; single currency; Euro; monetary history; economic history; European integration; Delors Report; Delors Committee; Maastricht Treaty; European Union; EU; Western Europe; USA; United States; international reserve currencies; Pound sterling; US dollar; business research.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEBR.2010.029726

International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 2010 Vol.2 No.1/2, pp.10 - 30

Published online: 01 Dec 2009 *

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