Full Employment and High Growth in Europe : A New Cycle of Reforms to Play a Leading Role in the New World Economy

Mario Baldassarri and Francesco Busato evaluate the impact produced by a new cycle of structural reforms over European Union economies. The structural reforms concern the size and the composition of government expenditure, the good and services markets, and the labour market. The book illustrates how the key challenge for European countries is not to discuss how policies could be implemented (e.g. fiscal policy competition vs fiscal policy coordination), but to implement them. Mario Baldassarri and Franceso Busato evaluate the impact produced by a new cycle of structural reforms over European Union economy as an aggregate, and over single European countries. The structural reforms concern the size and the composition of government expenditure, the good and services markets, and the labor market. Different policies are evaluatedin the book, including the cases of fiscal policy coordination, of fiscal policy competition, of monetary policy, and of free riding. The results obtained clearly suggest that structural reforms are required for Europe to play a leading role in the new world economy. The key challenge for European countries is not to discuss how policies could be implemented (e.g. fiscal policy competition Vs fiscal policy coordination), but to implement them Cover 1 Full Employment and High Growth in Europe 4 Contents 6 List of Figures 8 List of Tables 13 Acknowledgments 14 Part One Introduction And Conclusions 15 1 A Discussion and a Proposal on How to Revive Europe... without Waiting for Godot the Prince 16 Part Two Theoretical Background, European Union Guidelines, And Empirical Evidences 42 2 Three Theoretical Achievements 43 3 Economic Policies in the European Union 58 4 Empirical Evidences 63 Part Three Theoretical Background, European Union Guidelines, And Empirical Evidences 102 5 International Framework and Alternative Strategies 103 6 Easy Monetary Policy: Effectiveness and Limits 108 7 Higher Spending, Higher Taxes and No Reforms 127 8 Lower Taxes, Lower Spending, Higher Employment 144 9. Appendix 224 10. References 257 11. Index 261 Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 A Discussion and a Proposal on How to Revive Europe... without Waiting for Godot the Prince....Pages 3-28 Front Matter....Pages 29-29 Three Theoretical Achievements....Pages 31-45 Economic Policies in the European Union....Pages 46-50 Empirical Evidences....Pages 51-89 Front Matter....Pages 91-91 International Framework and Alternative Strategies....Pages 93-97 Easy Monetary Policy: Effectiveness and Limits....Pages 98-116 Higher Spending, Higher Taxes and No Reforms....Pages 117-133 Lower Taxes, Lower Spending, Higher Employment....Pages 134-213 Back Matter....Pages 214-252 "Full Employment and High Growth in Europe evaluates the impact produced by a new cycle of structural reforms over the European Union economy as a whole, and over single European countries. The structural reforms concern the size and composition of government expenditure, the goods and services markets, and the labour market. Different policies are evaluated, including those of fiscal policy coordination, fiscal policy competition, monetary policy, and free riding."--BOOK JACKET