Book Description

After 10 years of experience with the euro, few would dispute that the euro and the euro area fared much better than many observers expected (see e.g European Commission, 2008, for a very detailed account and analysis). However, this does not mean that some policy concerns have not lingered on. One prominent concern on which analysts, defenders, advocates and diehard opponents agree is the fear of a too weak adjustment capacity of the euro area. The present essay deals with one element of adjustment in the absence of national exchange rates and monetary policies, namely, the functioning of product markets as improved by reforms. One amongst several questions which preoccupy policy-makers in the eurozone is the rather unequal and (overall) insufficient ability of eurozone countries to adjust to asymmetric shocks, or, to common shocks with asymmetric effects. As is well-known, in a monetary union, monetary policy and, by implication (national) exchange rate policy, are no longer available for individual countries, so that alternative channels of adjustment have to be relied upon. The better these work, the greater the ability to adjust i.e. the lower the costs of adjustment to such shocks. Such abilities to adjust are a complex function of a range of options, including fiscal responses, temporary financial capital flows and market flexibilities, distinct as to countries and varying over time or case by case. This essay will zoom in on the "lubrication" of adjustment brought about by well-functioning markets. In particular, it deals with the subset of what are called "product market reforms" (comprising goods and services markets) meant to improve market functioning and thereby helping to facilitate adjustment processes in EMU. Other markets matter, too, such as labour, financial, housing and land markets but these will not be dealt with, except in passing and with some attention for the link (both substitutability and complementarity) with labour markets. -- EU Bookshop.