European Monetary Union since 18481996

This innovative book - based on actual historical experience - advances the controversial idea that European Monetary Union will only succeed if supported by much closer political union between the member states. A careful analysis of initiatives in the nineteenth century shows that if a monetary union is based on an agreement between autonomous states, tensions arise which eventually destroy the arrangements. This leads to the conclusion that political union is a prerequisite not only for the sustainability of a monetary union, but also and especially for its irreversibility.