AA 2005-06 – Spring Semester

European Economic Integration Prof. G. Di Bartolomeo

Instructor

Giovanni Di Bartolomeo (giovanni.dibartolomeo@uniroma1.it)

Classes

Monday and Tuesday (10:50 am - 12:30 pm)

Classroom

V6

Assessment – Textbook – Course slides – Paper topics – Course outline

News

The course will start on February the 6^th 2006.

Course Description

The European Union has now reached a turning point. On the 1^st of January 2002, the single currency, the EURO, has substituted the currencies of 13 out of 15 member countries and many of the previously planned economies of Central and East Europe have recently joined the European Union. Notwithstanding its political aim, the European integration process has been strongly based on the economic integration. Hence the course will focus on the trade and monetary factors that explain the integration process. During this course, we will also go through the history of the European Union from its foundation in the fifties until the present. Time will be devoted to the study of the many different Institutions inside the European Union and their role in the process of enlarging and deepening the Union itself. The effects of the monetary integration and of the integration process on the goods as well on the factors of production market will be analyzed. The course will be completed by a closer look at the various policies adopted in different areas where integration is deeper, as agriculture, regional policies, monetary policy. In order to describe many of the above process essential microeconomic and macroeconomic tools will be introduced.

Course Aims

The main aim of the course is to explain the dynamics of the European integrations, focusing on the monetary and economic factors. The course also aims to give to the students a clear picture of the European Institutions and how they work. More in detail, the broad academic purposes of the course are to explore: 1) The development and workings of the European Union; 2) The relationship between institutions and institutional development at the European level and national politics and government; 3) The interrelationship between European integration and the nation state; 4) The interrelationship between the European Union and the United States.

The general purpose of the course is to develop key skills associated with: reading about and understanding complex conceptual issues; following and understanding key empirical and theoretical debates; demonstrating to write papers, and to participate in group discussions.

Student Learning Outcomes

The specific student learning outcomes and experiences are to understand: 1) Understand what “integration” is; 2) Why integration has progressed the way it has; 3) Why different member states have different ambitions regarding, and have pursued different strategies towards, the European Union; 4) What the possible implications of integration are for politics and public policy in Europe. Moreover, during the course, students will be stimulated (and guided) to write a compulsory final paper based on personal research and to discuss it with the instructor.

Assessment

Attendance: Classes meet twice a week and attendance is expected at all classes. Being late or absent without a valid motivation will cause your grade to be lowered. After three unexcused absences you will be withdrawal from the course.

Course Requirements: It is strongly required that students read the book chapters and references suggested for each topic before lectures. This will make possible to realize interactive lectures stimulating discussions and reflections. Please, notice that the book reading is compulsory since not all the issues can be deeply described during the classes, which only have the aim of giving the main guidelines to the students.

Exams will be held at mid-term and at the end of the term. A compulsory paper on a topic to be decided is also requested. Preliminary discussions with the instructor on the paper argument are recommended.

Evaluation: The final grade will be based on the mid-term exam (30%), on regular attendance, home-works, and participation (10%), on the research paper (30%), on the final exam (30%).

Textbook and Reading List

Baldwin R. and Wyplosz C. The economics of European integration, Mc Graw Hill, London, 2002.

Other materials (journal articles, official documents, etc.) will be distributed during the course.

Here you can download: past mid-terms.

Course slides

L 01-03 European history

L 04-05 Institutions

L 06-08 Market integration

L 09 Common agricultural policy

L 10 Regional policy

L 11-15 Monetary Integration

L 16 Fiscal policy and SGP

L 17 The Financial markets and the euro

L 18 Labor markets and environmental policy

(Note on the slides).

Possible mid-term paper topics

Charles de Gaulle and Margaret Thatcher and the European integration

The United States and of the European integration: from promoter to opponent

The collapse of European Defense Community

The success of European Coal and Steel Community in 1951 and the failure of European Defense Community in 1954

The European foreign policy breakdown in the Iraq crisis

The European Monetary System in the 70s

The current debate on the European Constitution

Should the European Central Bank be transparent?

Accountability and transparency in the EU institutions

Labor market mobility and the EU

Free trade agreements: An analysis of bilateral trade effects

R&D policy in the EU

Opening up the EU market – How far have we got?

Common Agricultural Policy and EU enlargement

The reform of the Common Agricultural Policy

Standards and industrial policy in an EU framework

EU regional policies

Social dumping – What will happen in the case of EU enlargement?

Merger policy in the European Union

EU enlargement – Can the candidate countries innovate?

Polish labor market in the context of integration with European Union

New trade theory vs. classic trade theory in the EU

The German reunification and the Europe

The European competition policy

The Lisbon strategy: A pipe dream or reality?

Subsidies in the sugar industry

Altiero Spinelli and the crocodile club plan

The European Union and the Balkan countries

Should EU abolish government subsidies to companies?

Monetary policy exercised by European Central Bank

Do we need fiscal federalism in the EU?

The Italian soccer market and the EU antitrust law

Should Sweden (Great Brittan) join EMU?

Common security policy after Helsinki

Federalists against Unionists in the European integration history

The new approach to European integration policies of Jaques Delors

Europe and the south of the world: The case of the Lomé agreement

WTO disputes and the EU

Governments aids: The Alitalia case

Norway and the EU

Should corporate taxes be harmonized in the EU?

How Serious are the EU’s trade wars with the United States

The economic case for Turkish membership of the EU

Should the Stability and Growth Pact be scrapped?

The budgetary implications of Eastern enlargement

The future of labor unions in Europe

Employment effects of the EU enlargement

Soccer business in the EU after Bosman Law

Course outline

06/02/2005	Lecture 1 – Short history of the European integration I (1945-1980).
	Read Baldwin and Wylopsz chapter 1.
07/02/2005	Lecture 2 – Short History of the European integration II (1980-Nowdays).
	Read Baldwin and Wylopsz chapter 1.
13/02/2005	Lecture 3 – Facts, law, institutions, and the budget.
	Read Baldwin and Wylopsz chapter 2.
14/02/2005	Lecture 4 – The decision making process.
	Read Baldwin and Wylopsz chapter 3.
20/02/2005	Lecture 5 – Essential microeconomics tools.
	Read Baldwin and Wylopsz chapter 4.
21/02/2005	Lecture 6 – The essential economics of preferential liberalization.
	Read Baldwin and Wylopsz chapter 5.
27/02/2005	Lecture 7 – Market size and scale effects.
	Read Baldwin and Wylopsz chapter 6.
28/02/2005	Lecture 8 – Growth effects and market integration.
	Read Baldwin and Wylopsz chapter 7.
06/03/2005	Lecture 9 – The common agricultural policy. Deadline for paper assignment.
	Read Baldwin and Wylopsz chapter 8.
07/03/2005	Lecture 10 – Location effects, economic geography and regional policy. Read Baldwin and Wylopsz chapter 9.
13/03/2005	Review Class
14/03/2005	Mid-term exam.
20/03/2005	Lecture 11 – A Monetary history of Europe.
	Read Baldwin and Wylopsz chapter 10.
21/03/2005	Lecture 12 – The choice of exchange rate regime.
	Read Baldwin and Wylopsz chapter 11.
27/03/2005	Lecture 13 – The European Monetary System.
	Read Baldwin and Wylopsz chapter 12.
28/03/2005	Lecture 14 – Optimum currency area theory.
	Read Baldwin and Wylopsz chapter 13.
03/04/2005	Lecture 15 – The European Monetary Union.
	Read Baldwin and Wylopsz chapter 14.
04/04/2005	Lecture 16 – Fiscal policy and the Stability and Growth Pact. Deadline for paper submission.
	Read Baldwin and Wylopsz chapter 15.
10/04/2005	Lecture 17 – The financial markets and the Euro.
	Read Baldwin and Wylopsz chapter 16.
11/04/2005	Lecture 18 – Economic integration and labor market institutions.
	Read Baldwin and Wylopsz chapter 17.
18/04/2005	Review Class
24/04/2005	Final Exam.