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This book analyzes monetary integration and the choice and collapse of exchange rate regimes from a positive political economy perspective. Carsten Hefeker examines the influence of important interest groups in a coherent framework, which challenges the traditional and normative theory of monetary integration. By focusing on interest groups such as industries and bureaucracies, it is possible to understand the development of international monetary regimes in Europe beginning in the last century and culminating in the desire for monetary union today. This approach offers new insights to the widely discussed but only incompletely understood topic of exchange rate regime choice.The book’s contribution is to develop a coherent and consistent framework to understand the choice and the collapse of exchange rate regimes, which are usually separated in the literature. The study begins by analyzing monetary integration in nineteenth-century Europe in the course of national building in Italy, Switzerland, and Germany, as well as supranational attempts in the Austro-German Monetary Union, the Latin Monetary Union, and the Scandinavian Monetary Union. Hefeker then turns to current monetary integration in Europe and describes in detail the interests of large and small industries, in particular the financial industry, and the role of the German Bundesbank in this process. Finally, the monetary disintegration in the territory of the former Soviet Union is seen in this perspective.
E-Book Content
Interest Groups and Monetary Integration: The Political Economy of Exchange Regime Choice Carsten Hefeker Westview Press Interest Groups and Monetary Integration This page intentionally left blank The Political Economy of Global Interdependence Thomas Willett, Series Editor Interest Groups and Monetary Integration: The Political Economy of Exchange Regime Choice, Carsten Hefeker Growth, Debt, and Politics: Economic Adjustment and the Political Performance of Developing Countries, Lewis W. Snider Establishing Monetary Stability in Emerging Market Economies, edited by Thomas D. Willett, Richard C.K. Burdekin, Richard J, Sweeney, and Clas Wihlborg Closure in International Politics: The Impact of Strategy, Blocs, and Empire, John A. Kroll Toward a North American Community? Canada, the United States, and Mexico, edited by Donald Barry with Mark O. Dickerson and James D. Gaisford Seeking Common Ground: Canada-U.S. Trade Dispute Settlement Policies in the Nineties, Andrew D.M, Anderson The Challenge of European Integration: Internal and External Problems of Trade and Money, edited by Berhanu Abegaz, Patricia Dillon, David H. Feldman, and Paul F. Whiteley The Political Economy of European Monetary Unification, edited by Barry Eichengreen and Jeffry Frieden This page intentionally left blank Interest Groups and Monetary Integration The Political Economy of Exchange Regime Choice Carsten Hefeker WestviewPress A Division of HarperCollinsPublishers The Political Economy of Global Interdependence All rights reserved. Printed in the United Slates of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Copyright © 1997 by Wesrview Press, A Member of the Perseus Books Group Published in 1998 in the United States of America by Westview Press, 5500 Central Avenue, Boulder, Colorado 80301-2877, and in the United Kingdom by Westview Press, 12 Hid's Copse Road, Cumnor Hill, Oxford OX2 9JJ A C1P catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN 0-8133-6696-8 The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Sta