KA6m Economics and Politics of European Integration (University of Helsinki)
Textbook: Baldwin and Wyplosz: The Economics of European Integration, McGraw-Hill (preferably 2nd/2006 or 3rd/2009 edition)
Lectures and materials:
LECTURE 1:
LECTURE 2:
EU_2011-02_Lisbon (corrected version)
Additional materials on Lisbon Treaty:
- European Commission, “Your Guide to the Lisbon Treaty” (2009)
- Open Europe, “A Guide to the Constitutional Treaty” (2008)
EU_2011-04_international-trade
LECTURE 3:
Additional materials on Common Agricultural Policy (CAP):
- Baldwin’s longer and quite helpful article on the 2003 reforms: “The June 2003 CAP Reform“
- The Economist magazine’s Charlemagne describing recent debates on reforming the CAP: “If the CAP doesn’t fit” (24 April 2010)
Additional materials (mentioned in lecture):
- Charlemagne, “The myth of the periphery” (The Economist, 25 March 2010)
- Open Europe, “Why the EU should not run regional policy” (2007)
LECTURE 4:
LECTURE 5:
On this topic, you need to have a basic grasp of the concept of money and business cycles. We don’t cover the AD-AS diagram or the IS-LM framework, because I think they confuse most people and there are concerns about the underlying theory. Here’s however a classic article that you may find helpful for understand the nature and evolution of money:
- Carl Menger, “On the Origins of Money,” Economic Journal, volume 2 (1892) p. 239-55.
This topic also tends to confuse non-economists (and some economists too!). The following book, although politically radical, is a useful discussion of basic issues in monetary economics. Part IV (“The Monetary Breakdown of the West“) of the book explains the breakdown of the monetary order as a result of the World Wars, and the problems with the subsequent solutions.
- Murray Rothbard, What Has Government Done to Our Money (1980)
LECTURE 6:
The following articles by Charles Wyplosz are very useful for understanding this better. The first article is a good overview of the problem and proposes some radical solutions. The second article discusses the theory of fiscal discipline and the policy alternatives; it’s quite long but very interesting, recommended for those who want to understand this topic in depth.
- Charles Wyplosz, “Europe’s Fiscal Rules Need a Serious Overhaul” (2002)
- Charles Wyplosz, “Fiscal Policy: Institutions versus Rules“, National Institute Economic Review (2005)
There is a heated debate going on concerning the new plans of the Commission. Here are some critical commentaries, and a response from the Commission:
- Charles Wyplosz, “Eurozone reform: Not yet fiscal discipline, but a good start“, Voxeu.org (4 October 2010)
- Paul De Grauwe, “Why a tougher Stability and Growth Pact is a bad idea“, Voxeu.org (4 October 2010)
- Paolo Manasse, “Stability and Growth Pact: Counterproductive proposals“, Voxeu.org (7 October 2010)
- Francesco Giavazzi and Luigi Spaventa, “The European Commission’s proposals: Empty and useless“, Voxeu.org (14 October 2010)
- Marco Buti and Martin Larch, “Stronger EU economic governance: A response to the critics“, Voxeu.org (25 October 2010)
