What Is European Integration Really About? A Political Guide for Economists
从政治经济学视角解读欧洲一体化进程，分析欧元创建背后的政治逻辑，帮助经济学家理解欧洲制度建立的动机与局限。
Europe's monetary union is part of a broader process of integration that started in the aftermath of World War II. In this “political guide for economists,” we look at the creation of the euro within the bigger picture of European integration. How and why were European institutions established? What is European integration really about? We address these questions from a political-economy perspective, building on ideas and results from the economic literature on the formation of states and political unions. Specifically, we look at the motivations, assumptions, and limitations of the European strategy initiated by Jean Monnet and his collaborators of partially integrating policy functions in a few areas with the expectation that more integration will follow in other areas in a sort of chain reaction toward an “ever-closer union.” The euro with its current problems is a child of that strategy and its limits.