Economic theories have played (and still play) a crucial role in the justification and evaluation of the process of European integration. Lack of economic efficiency has often been invoked in order to criticize the way the EU allegedly constructed itself: based on the model of 19th-century German unification, European unification would have allegedly consisted of a premature rushing of economic integration, imposed from the top with the aim of making it the engine of political integration.
A less superficial analysis of European economic history shows, however, that limits of such an interpretation, and invites a reassessment of the direction of causal links between political and economic factors. This seminar aims at analysing the economic integration process, at studying its causes and consequences, as well as at evaluating its actual suitability to the Continental economy. Treated topics include: the customs union, the common agricultural policy, the single market, the monetary union, and the fiscal union.
- Enseignant: STEFANO UGOLINI