IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ksp/journ1/v1y2014i2p133-149.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Political Economy of Italy in the EMU: What Went Wrong?

Author

Listed:
  • Leila Simona TALANI

    (King’s Collage, UK.)

Abstract

Although Italy was amongst the most enthusiastic founding members of the European Economic Community in 1957, the Italian capacity to respect the imperatives of European integration could not, and, still, cannot, be given for granted, as the recent sovereign debt crisis demonstrates. Apart from the many structural inconsistencies that persist not only in the economic, but also in the political and social organization of the country, also the public debate is sometimes characterised by a tendency to blame the process of Europeanisation for the less palatable decisions taken by the national institutions. This article addresses the sub-national, national and supranational dimensions of the process of Italian Europeanisation focusing in particular on the role of domestic socio-economic actors in influencing monetary policy decision making processes. The article is based on field research conducted by the author both in Italy and Brussels. The main object of this research effort was to analyse to what extent the outcomes of the process of European monetary integration have been influenced by domestic politics and by domestic economic interest groups in Italy with the final aim of assessing the impact of Italian entry into the EMU and especially its future within it. Thus, at the core of this research lies the following question: What is the role of domestic politics and domestic interest groups in monetary policy-making? The theoretical starting point of this interpretation of the process of European monetary integration is represented by an integrated domestic-foreign policy focusing on the role of economic interest groups in defining national exchange rate and monetary policy decisions. It is not here the place to discuss the different theories explaining the process of European integration and, more specifically, of the issue of European monetary integration. Here it will simply be underlined that, to explain foreign economic policy choices, policy outcomes need to be linked to domestic politics.

Suggested Citation

  • Leila Simona TALANI, 2014. "The Political Economy of Italy in the EMU: What Went Wrong?," Journal of Economics and Political Economy, KSP Journals, vol. 1(2), pages 133-149, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:ksp:journ1:v:1:y:2014:i:2:p:133-149
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.kspjournals.org/index.php/JEPE/article/download/61/218
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.kspjournals.org/index.php/JEPE/article/view/61/218
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maurice Obstfeld & Giovanni Peri, 1998. "Regional non-adjustment and fiscal policy," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 13(26), pages 206-259.
    2. Michael Artis & Bernhard Winkler, 1998. "The Stability Pact: Safeguarding the Credibility of the European Central Bank," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 163(1), pages 87-98, January.
    3. Tsoukalis, Loukas, 1997. "The New European Economy Revisited," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198774778.
    4. Lucjan T. Orlowski, 2008. "Stages of the Ongoing Global Financial Crisis: Is There a Wandering Asset-Price Bubble?," CASE Network Studies and Analyses 0372, CASE-Center for Social and Economic Research.
    5. Arghyrou, Michael G. & Kontonikas, Alexandros, 2012. "The EMU sovereign-debt crisis: Fundamentals, expectations and contagion," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 658-677.
    6. Orlowski, Lucjan T., 2008. "Stages of the 2007/2008 Global Financial Crisis Is There a Wandering Asset-Price Bubble?," Economics Discussion Papers 2008-43, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    7. Orlowski, Lucjan T., 2008. "Stages of the Ongoing Global Financial Crisis: Is There a Wandering Asset Bubble?," IWH Discussion Papers 11/2008, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    8. Domenico Giannone & Michèle Lenza & Huw Pill & Lucrezia Reichlin, 2010. "Non‐Standard Monetary Policy Measures," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2010-040, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    9. Artis, Michael J, 1998. "The Unemployment Problem," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 14(3), pages 98-109, Autumn.
    10. Pedro Gustavo Teixeira, 2011. "The Regulation of the European Financial Market after the Crisis," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Pompeo Posta & Leila Simona Talani (ed.), Europe and the Financial Crisis, chapter 1, pages 9-27, Palgrave Macmillan.
    11. Simone Manganelli & Guido Wolswijk, 2009. "What drives spreads in the euro area government bond market? [‘What “hides” behind sovereign debt ratings?’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 24(58), pages 191-240.
    12. Frieden, Jeffry A., 1991. "Invested interests: the politics of national economic policies in a world of global finance," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(4), pages 425-451, October.
    13. Marco BUTI & Daniele FRANCO & Hedwig ONGENA, 1997. "Budgeetary Policies during Recessions : Retrospective Application of the Stability and Growth Pact” to the Post-War Period," Discussion Papers (REL - Recherches Economiques de Louvain) 1997041, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    14. Peter Gourevitch & Peter Lange & Andrew Martin, 1981. "Industrial Relations and Politics: Some Reflections," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Peter B. Doeringer & Peter Gourevitch & Peter Lange & Andrew Martin (ed.), Industrial Relations in International Perspective, chapter 11, pages 401-416, Palgrave Macmillan.
    15. Peter B. Doeringer & Peter Gourevitch & Peter Lange & Andrew Martin (ed.), 1981. "Industrial Relations in International Perspective," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-04442-9, December.
    16. Peter B. Doeringer, 1981. "Industrial Relations Research in International Perspective," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Peter B. Doeringer & Peter Gourevitch & Peter Lange & Andrew Martin (ed.), Industrial Relations in International Perspective, chapter 1, pages 1-21, Palgrave Macmillan.
    17. Barry Eichengreen & Charles Wyplosz, 1998. "The Stability Pact: more than a minor nuisance?," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 13(26), pages 66-113.
    18. Gino Giugni, 1981. "The Italian System of Industrial Relations," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Peter B. Doeringer & Peter Gourevitch & Peter Lange & Andrew Martin (ed.), Industrial Relations in International Perspective, chapter 9, pages 324-364, Palgrave Macmillan.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Talani, Leila Simona, 2014. "The Political Economy of Italy in the EMU: What Went Wrong?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 1(2), pages 133-149.
    2. Peter B. Kenen, 2000. "Currency Areas, Policy Domains, and the Institutionalization of Fixed Exchange Rates," CEP Discussion Papers dp0467, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    3. Abu S. Amin & Lucjan T. Orlowski, 2014. "Returns, Volatilities, and Correlations Across Mature, Regional, and Frontier Markets: Evidence from South Asia," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(3), pages 5-27, May.
    4. Gabrisch, Hubert & Orlowski, Lucjan T., 2010. "The Extreme Risk Problem for Monetary Policies of the Euro-Candidates," IWH Discussion Papers 12/2010, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    5. Michael J. Artis & Marco Buti, 2000. "‘Close‐to‐Balance or in Surplus’: A Policy‐Maker's Guide to the Implementation of the Stability and Growth Pact," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 563-591, November.
    6. Arestis, Philip & McCauley, Kevin & Sawyer, Malcolm, 2001. "An Alternative Stability Pact for the European Union," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 25(1), pages 113-130, January.
    7. Titelman Kardonsky, Daniel & Pérez Caldentey, Esteban & Pineda Salazar, Ramón, 2009. "The bigness of smallness: the financial crisis, its contagion mechanisms and its effects in Latin America," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), December.
    8. Fabrizio Balassone & Daniele Franco, 2000. "Public investment, the Stability Pact and the ‘golden rule’," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 21(2), pages 207-229, June.
    9. Lucjan T. Orlowski, 2012. "Financial crisis and extreme market risks: Evidence from Europe," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(3), pages 120-130, September.
    10. Di Carlo, Anastasia, 2010. "The Private Equity market in Europe. Rise of a new cycle or tail of the recession?," EIF Working Paper Series 2010/03, European Investment Fund (EIF).
    11. Solís Baltodano, María José, 2016. "The Catalan health budget rationing problem," Working Papers 2072/290741, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    12. Orlowski, Lucjan T., 2015. "From pit to electronic trading: Impact on price volatility of U.S. Treasury futures," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 3-9.
    13. Katleho Daniel Makatjane & Edward Kagiso Molefe & Roscoe Bertrum van Wyk, 2018. "The Analysis of the 2008 US Financial Crisis: An Intervention Approach," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 10(1), pages 59-68.
    14. Meri Boshkoska & Spiro Lazaroski, 2018. "Leading Factors Of The Global Financial Crisis – The Us Evidence," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 5, pages 4-13, October.
    15. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/2943 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/2943 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Pusch, Toralf, 2012. "The role of uncertainty in the euro crisis: A reconsideration of liquidity preference theory," ZÖSS-Discussion Papers 31, University of Hamburg, Centre for Economic and Sociological Studies (CESS/ZÖSS).
    18. Hirsch, Patrick & Feld, Lars P. & Köhler, Ekkehard A. & Thomas, Tobias, 2024. "“Whatever It Takes!” How tonality of TV-news affected government bond yield spreads during the European debt crisis," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    19. Hubert Gabrisch & Lucjan T. Orlowski, 2010. "Interest Rate Convergence in Euro-Candidate Countries: Volatility Dynamics of Sovereign Bond Yields," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(6), pages 69-85, November.
    20. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/2943 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Hubert Gabrisch & Lucjan T Orlowski, 2011. "Extreme Risks in Financial Markets and Monetary Policies of the Euro-Candidates," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 53(4), pages 511-534, December.
    22. Fabrizio Balassone & Daniele Franco, 2004. "EMU fiscal rules: new answers to old questions?," Chapters, in: Giuseppe Eusepi & Friedrich Schneider (ed.), Changing Institutions in the European Union, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    23. Richard T. Harrison & Rob Baldock, 2015. "Financing SME growth in the UK: meeting the challenges after the global financial crisis," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1-2), pages 1-6, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ksp:journ1:v:1:y:2014:i:2:p:133-149. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Bilal KARGI The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Bilal KARGI to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.kspjournals.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.