Offers a non-technical, comprehensive overview of the central issues surrounding the euro. Following an introduction to the origins of European integration, this book examines the first concrete steps in the process that led to the creation of the euro area. It also explores the economics and architecture of the euro.

This important new book provides a non-technical, comprehensive overview of the central issues surrounding the euro. Following an introduction to the origins of European integration, the authors proceed to examine the first concrete steps in the process that led to the creation of the euro area. The book then explores the economics and architecture of the euro, highlights the issues surrounding enlargement, and reflects on the future of European monetary union. To help bring the subject matter alive, the book also contains interviews with leading academics in the field including Willem Buiter, Nick Crafts, Paul De Grauwe, Patrick Minford, Niels Thygesen, Andrzej Wojtyna and Charles Wyplosz. Primarily aimed at intermediate undergraduates taking courses not just in economics, but also in business studies, modern economic history, politics and international relations, this book will also prove useful to postgraduate students in these disciplines in their preliminary year of study.

Contents: Preface
1. The Euro and the Origins of European Integration
2. Before the Euro: The First Steps in the Process of Monetary Integration
3. The Economics of the Euro
4. The Euro's Architecture
5. Euro-area Enlargement: Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom
6. Euro-area Enlargement and the Accession Economies
7. Reflections on the Future of the Euro
Bibliography
Index