Euro : The Beginning, the Middle . . . and the End?. This item is unavailable.Euro : The Beginning, the Middle . . . and the End?

At the outset of the euro, there was strong opposition to Britain's participation from most free-market economists. However, economists took more nuanced positions with regards to participation by the majority of current euro zone member states. Indeed, continental free-market economists were generally supportive of the euro, believing it would reduce the tendency towards inflation and encourage economic reform. This book looks again at the debate when the euro was first introduced and traces the sources of its current problems. A group of leading monetary economists then propose radical solutions to resolve the long-running crisis of European Monetary Union which has - in all probability - merely been suppressed by the actions of member governments and of the European Central Bank. The authors are all agreed that we cannot return to the status quo if the current members of the euro zone are to prosper in the long term.

Philip Booth is the editorial and program director of the Institute of Economic Affairs and a professor of insurance and risk management at Cass Business School, City University London. He is a fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and of the Royal Statistical Society and deputy editor of Economic Affairs. He is the editor of And the Pursuit of Happiness: Well-being and the Role of Government; Catholic Social Teaching and the Market Economy; Pension Provision: Government Failure Around the World; Sharper Axes, Lower Taxes; and Verdict on the Crash: Causes and Policy Implications. He has also advised the Bank of England on financial stability issues (1998–2002) and has been a visiting fellow at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford University (2010–11).