Should Britain Leave the EU?: An Economic Analysis of a Troubled Relationship

Minford, Patrick,Mahambare, Vidya,Nowell, Eric

ISBN 10: 1845423798 / ISBN 13: 9781845423797

Published by Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, 2005

About this Item

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Should Britain Leave the EU?: An Economic Analysis of a Troubled Relationship
• Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1845423798
• ISBN 13: 9781845423797
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Good
• Weight: 440 grams

About this title

Synopsis

This controversial, challenging and timely book carefully reviews the economic aspects of the UK's relationship with the EU: trade in goods and services, the single market, tax and regulation, public finances, and monetary policy.

The authors argue that the EU has chosen to place political integration before market liberalisation and has followed policies of protection not merely in agriculture, but also in manufacturing trade, while leaving continental countries' restrictions on trade in services largely intact. The UK, meanwhile, has developed into a service-based and relatively deregulated economy, and a net importer not merely of food but also of manufactured goods. As such, the book finds that the UK is severely damaged by the EU's current policies, as indeed is the general mass of the people within the rest of the EU.

The book goes on to consider ways in which the political advantages of collaboration within Europe can be maintained while eliminating this damage. It suggests that either:

• EU policies should radically change towards the adoption of new policies of free trade, competition and deregulation (to the greater benefit of EU citizens generally), or
• the UK should renegotiate the UK's terms of membership to avoid the damaging effects of existing EU policies, or
• the UK should simply leave the EU, continuing with co-operation in chosen fields.

Concluding that the economic costs of UK membership of the EU greatly outweigh the benefits, this thought-provoking book will be of profound interest to policymakers, economists, and informed people generally, not to speak of the broader public vitally concerned about the referendum on the EU draft constitution.

About the Author

Patrick Minford, Professor of Applied Economics, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, UK, Vidya Mahambare, Associate Professor of Economics, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, India and the late Eric Nowell, former Honorary Fellow, Liverpool University Management School, UK