New Economics Perspectives has many pieces specifically on this issue. My colleagues Stephanie Kelton and Randall Wray have given testimony on this matter to several EU governments. (http://neweconomicperspectives.org/)
Professor Flanders is absolutely correct. The Euro is not a "sovereign currency," thus the Euro states have given up their abilities to influence their respective economies. If one returns to the "Chartalist," "State Money," "Modern Money" theoretical approach--an issue in the "Methodenstreit" and the approach adopted by Keynes in the GT, by the bye--one understands the reasoning behind this. We might also remember Lerner's "Functional Finance" on this matter.
John
John F. Henry
Department of Economics
University of Missouri-Kansas City
5100 Rockhill Road
Kansas City, MO 64110-2449
Office Phone: (816) 235-1309
Email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
________________________________
From: Societies for the History of Economics [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Catherine Labio [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2012 2:11 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [SHOE] a question about the Euro, in historical/comparative/theoretical perspective
Yet, it started.
At 12:07 PM 6/6/2012, you wrote:
It’s fairly elementary: a common currency without a common fiscal authority is a non-starter.
Professor M June Flanders
The Eitan Berglas School of Economics
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv Israel 69978
Tel: +972.(0)3.549.5625
734.757.8265
Fax +972.(0)3.547.7316
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
From: Societies for the History of Economics [mailto:[log in to unmask] ] On Behalf Of Catherine Labio
Sent: 06 June, 2012 19:17
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [SHOE] a question about the Euro, in historical/comparative/theoretical perspective
As a non-economist myself, I too find these comparative questions fascinating and am a bit surprised by how quickly some people are pronouncing the euro's eulogy.
The US did not have a single currency in 1787. The dollar as "national currency" only came into existence in 1861. Even then, that does not mean it was adopted immediately by everyone. I'm not an economist either, but I believe the currency only stabilized in the early 20thC, with the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913.
At 09:55 PM 6/3/2012, Peter G. Stillman wrote:
I am writing as a non-economist.
I am wondering, amidst all the problems the Euro is currently having,
about historical and comparative and theoretical treatments of
similar currency/integration problems, because I have seen none,
except for what can be gleaned from *The Economist*.
What interests me, for instance, is that people talk of how different
the Greek political economy is from the German and how therefore they
cannot exist together with the same currency without great strains
.... perhaps so great that the Greeks should leave, or the Euro will
fall apart.
But -- and here is where I am really clearly a non-economist, sorry
-- when I look at the US, now or in 1787 or 1890, I see a country as
diverse as Europe economically, but maintaining a single currency.
Why the difference?
Or, when nascent states were introducing single currencies (the
English pound into Scotland and Ireland, the German mark throughout
the newly consolidated Empire in the latter half of the 19th
century), were there similar concerns about the single currency?
How would various economic theorists treat these
historical/comparative issues? Are there any economic theoretical
treatments about bringing together disparate economies into one unit?
(sorry, again, my ignorance)
As a political theorist, I'd be inclined to think that political
power played a role, at least in my above examples: the silver
battles of the populist times were the equivalent of the Greeks, the
losers in the unified economic organization, trying to change the
rules; but the powerful East Coast financial interests would not let
them. I'd suspect the same was true about the English pound in
Scotland, Wales, and Ireland (pre-1923).
But I would like to get some good, history of economy theory answers.
Can you help.
Thanks, Peter
--
Peter G. Stillman
Department of Political Science
Vassar College (#463)
124 Raymond Avenue
Poughkeepsie, NY 12604-0463
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
http://faculty.vassar.edu/stillman/
http://petergstillman.wordpress.com/about/
Catherine Labio
Associate Professor of English
Department of English
University of Colorado at Boulder
Hellems 118, UCB 226
USA – Boulder, CO 80309
Office phone: +1 303 492-6321
Dept of English fax: +1 303 492-8904
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 7201 (20120606) __________
The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
http://www.eset.com
Catherine Labio
Associate Professor of English
Department of English
University of Colorado at Boulder
Hellems 118, UCB 226
USA – Boulder, CO 80309
Office phone: +1 303 492-6321
Dept of English fax: +1 303 492-8904
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
|
