After the 2008 financial meltdown, the American crisis soon infected the European financial system, becoming both a sovereign debt crisis and a banking debacle in many peripheral Euro area countries. The European crisis spread quickly among closely integrated economies and the implementation of austerity policies reinforced a spiral of economic contractions and provoked a rising political rebellion. This World Economics Association book, edited by Victor Baker and Beniamino Moro, was written to address monetary, financial and debt issues, alongside the questions of social stabilization, strategies for structural reform and economic growth that may be re-considered to frame new economic perspectives for Europe. The call for reflection is persuasively made by the contributors: Jacques Sapir; Gerson Lima; Carmelo Ferlito; Merijn Knibbe; Enrico Marelli and Marcello Signorelli; Tom Vleeschhouwer and Tara Koning; Cristiano Boaventura Duarte and André de Melo Modenesi; Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Michalis Nukiforos and Gennaro Zezza. “The World Economics Association’s on-line forums are an important step toward the goal of open exchange on policy questions among economists of diverse views world-wide. I congratulate Victor Beker and Beniamin Moro, who here bring together a set of important papers on the European question.”James K. Galbraith, The University of Texas at Austin“The huge debates on the future of the European Union as well as the management of the Euro are among the hottest issues in both contemporary politics and finance. The papers in this volume offer a broad survey of the terrain and a broad menu of possible solutions. The authors and the World Economics Association have provided a major public service with this text of great interest for both the general public and for policymakers.”Carlos Marichal , El Colegio de México “The European Union is suffering from many crises – and many self-inflicted through the structures of the Eurozone. This book is to be highly welcomed for debating the causes of those crises and seeking ways forward. The chapters here offer two contrasting routes away from the crisis of the Eurozone: radical reforms of the economic governance of EMU with creation of a viable monetary union, a sensible fiscal policy and building convergence or the orderly dismantaling of the euro and arrangements to co-ordinate currencies. These authors have set out agendas – when will the policy makers join the debates?” Malcolm Sawyer, University of Leeds, UK
