After successful completion of the course, students are able to
1) to classify the specificities of the institutions of the European Economic and Monetary Union in a historical context
2) to assess the impact of participation in the European Economic and Monetary Union
3) understand the monetary policy measures of the European Central Bank
4) to recognize the need for fiscal policy conditions
5) to describe the risks to the continued existence of the single currency through an increase in divergence within the Union
6) to estimate the potential for improvements in the functioning of Economic and Monetary Union

1) History
The single currency as a logical complement to the single market
Empirical estimates of the impact of the common currency (Breuss)
2) Analysis of the optimal currency union (Mundell)
Fiscal union, Banking Union
Monetary Union and political union (Theurl)
3) Institutions
ECB (Defining monetary policy and the exchange rate)
EC (Monitoring macroeconomic imbalances, Fiscal compliance)
ESM (Providing liquidity assistance to member countries)
4) Empirical Performance
Synchronization of the business cycle
Convergence, general effects of the financial crisis
Impact of the financial crisis on the basis of country examples
Comparison with other (large) currency Areas
5) Criticism and Reforms
Enlargement and Deepening of the European Union through the Fiscal Union Replacement of the lost Exchange Rate Mechanism in EMU by jointly coordinated structural measures, eliminating or at least reducing real exchange rate imbalances and promoting sustainable growth

Lectures, power point presentation, discussion, references for complementary reading

Answers to examination questions