Università Roma Tre

The international monetary system
Money functions in international transactions. Monetary systems and exchange rates. Exchange rate regimes and monetary unions: from the Gold Standard to the EMU. Costs and benefits of a single currency. The theory of optimal currency areas. Fragility of incomplete monetary unions. Inflation, monetary stability and capital movements.
The institutions of the EMU
The Maastricht Treaty. The European Central Bank. The principle of independence and the governance of the ECB. The European System of Central Banks. The Stability and Growth Pact. Operating procedures of the Eurosystem. Banking supervision and financial stability in the Eurozone.

European monetary policy
Central banks and asymmetric shocks. The ECB's strategy. Intervention instruments: minimum reserve, main and long-term refinancing, fine-tuning, structural operations and open market operations. Transmission mechanisms: interest rates, exchange rates, asset prices and credit conditions. Credit risk and credit crunch regulation: from Basel 1 to Basel 3. Benefits and constraints of a common monetary policy. Monetary policies compared: United States, United Kingdom and European Union.

Tax policies in monetary unions
Tax policies and theory of optimal currency areas. The sustainability of public deficits. Need for fiscal discipline in monetary unions. Effectiveness of the Stability and Growth Pact. National defaults and systems of guarantees in monetary unions. The European Financial Stability Fund. The Fiscal Compact.

The euro, the financial markets and the crisis
Single currency and financial markets. The stability of the financial markets. Currency and effective demand. Credit cycle and financial crises. The financial crisis of 2007 - 2009: from the speculative bubble of the American real estate sector to the economic crisis. The rescue of banks and the sovereign debt crisis. Risks of national default and euro crisis.

DE GRAUWE P., ECONOMIA DELL’UNIONE MONETARIA, IL MULINO, 2010.