The European Roots of the Eurozone Crisis: Errors of the Past and Needs for the Future

Description

This book examines the Eurozone crisis in light of theoretical and empirical evidence. The first half explores specific theoretical contributions within a framework of growth theory models to examine the two major pillars of the European construction, the European Central Bank and the Maastricht Treaty, and seeks to explain why they are theoretically wrong. The second half presents results of counterfactual simulations using the Oxford Econometric model and estimates what the Eurozone has lost in terms of economic and social cost from 2002 to 2014 as a consequence of the super-evaluation of the Euro and the Maastricht Treaty parameters being mistakenly fixed and pursued. Finally, the author supports the urgent need to refund the European Union, up-dating The Maastricht Treaty and the ECB statute to build three concentric circles: the USE (United States of Europe), the EU (European Union), the EAFTDA (Europe/Africa Free Trade and Development Area). Front Matter ....Pages i-xxxvii Front Matter ....Pages 1-7 Government Expenditure, Inflation and Growth: The Base Model (Mario Baldassarri)....Pages 9-30 Economic Policy, Government Investment Programmes, Inflation and Growth (Mario Baldassarri)....Pages 31-82 Government Investment Programmes in the Open-Economy Case (Mario Baldassarri)....Pages 83-120 “The” Optimal Growth Path for the Economy and Optimal Discount Rates for Investment Decisions (Mario Baldassarri)....Pages 121-157 Allocation of Time, Human Capital and Endogenous Growth (Mario Baldassarri)....Pages 159-175 Earnings and Human Capital in a Deterministic Life-Cycle Model Towards a Spring-Savings Behaviour (Mario Baldassarri)....Pages 177-224 Taxation, Income Distribution and Optimal Programmes to Finance Higher Education (Mario Baldassarri)....Pages 225-249 Income Distribution, Equity and Growth (Mario Baldassarri)....Pages 251-269 Front Matter ....Pages 271-292 The Cost of the Super Euro: 2002–2014 (Mario Baldassarri)....Pages 293-383 A New Maastricht Treaty? (Mario Baldassarri)....Pages 385-424 What Would Have Happened in Europe if Mario Draghi Had Not Been There? (Mario Baldassarri)....Pages 425-441 Back Matter ....Pages 443-459