Policy Learning and the Euro : The EU’s Responses to the Sovereign Debt Crisis

This book analyzes the EU's responses to the sovereign debt crisis that hit the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in 2010. After reviewing the events that led to the crisis, it examines two case studies. The first assesses the short-term policy changes by drawing on a new mechanism, contingent learning. The second case study revolves around the long-term EMU reforms passed during the period 2010-2013. More specifically, it assesses these responses in relation to the institutional scientific publications of the European Central Bank and the DG ECFIN of the Commission. By analyzing both the short and long-term responses to the sovereign debt crisis, the book elucidates how policy learning can be an effective engine for deeper European integration. It will be of interest to scholars and students of EU integration, the EMU, policy learning, and supranational bureaucracies. Jonathan C. Kamkhaji is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico Milano, Italy. His research interests include European integration, public policy, and regulatory governance. He previously worked as a consultant for the World Bank, and has published research in the Journal of European Public Policy, Regulation & Governance, and Policy Studies Journal Acknowledgments Contents About the Author List of Figures List of Tables List of Boxes Chapter 1: Introduction: EMU, Fiscal Policy Coordination, Crisis, and the Case for Learning 1.1 Scope of the Book 1.2 A Brief Timeline of Fiscal Policy Coordination Under EMU: Clarifying the Empirical Focus of This Study 1.3 Gaps in the Literature, Motivation, and Original Contribution References Chapter 2: Research Design 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Characterizing Policy Learning 2.3 How to Operationalize Modes of Policy Learning as Mechanisms: Between Ontology and Methodology 2.4 Empirical Strategy and Logic of Inference References Chapter 3: Introducing the Beast: A Primer on the Euro Crisis 3.1 Introduction: Extant Literature and the Need to Integrate the Crisis into Mechanisms of Learning 3.2 Sailing Toward the Storm 3.3 The Greek Crisis and Its Implications for EMU Paradigm 3.3.1 The Unfolding of the Greek Crisis 3.3.2 Characterizing the Greek Crisis in the Context of EMU. A Shift in Problem Tractability—and Beyond 3.4 Conclusions References Chapter 4: How Contingent Learning Saved EMU in 2010 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Characterizing the 2010 Greek Crisis and Its Policy Responses: What Is the Relationship Between Crisis, Learning, and Change? 4.3 A New Causal Mechanism: Contingent Learning in Intracrisis Management 4.4 Empirical Analysis: A Plausibility Probe of Contingent Learning 4.4.1 Plausibility Probe 4.5 Conclusions References Chapter 5: The Influence of Internal Epistemic Actors on the Construction of EMU Expansionary Consolidation Paradigm 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Putting the Four Reforms in the Contingent Learning Context 5.3 Characterizing the Mode of Policy Learning of the Four Reforms 5.3.1 Who Learns? What Are Actors’ Certification and Role in the Policy and Learning Processes? How Is the Actor Constellation Shaped? 5.3.2 What Is the Tractability of the Problems Tackled in the Policy Process? What Is the Content of the Learning Process? 5.3.3 What Mode of Policy Learning? 5.4 Empirical Analysis 5.4.1 Implications of Epistemic Learning and a Review of Blyth 5.4.2 Data Collection 5.4.3 Data Analysis and Findings 5.4.4 Paradigmatic Changes27 5.4.5 Instrumental Changes 5.5 Conclusions References Chapter 6: Conclusions: Integration Through Crisis and Learning 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Contingent Learning and Integration Theories 6.3 Epistemic Learning and Austerity 6.4 What Lies Ahead? References Dedicated Bibliography, Economic Papers as Data Index