The following program corresponds to a 12 hours graduate class that has been given at ISEG (Universidad Tecnica de Lisboa) in July 1999. Most references are available at the web sites of  W. Buiter, B. Eichengreen, L. Svensson, or the NBER
 

I. How to choose a monetary regime : what history shows.

- International fixed exchange rates regimes : the gold standard and Bretton-Woods. Similarities and differences.
- Flexible exchange rates periods and economic fluctuations
- Regional agreements : EPU, EMS : stable target zone systems or transitional political agreements ?

II. How to choose a monetary regime : what theory shows

- Economic integration, purchasing power parity and balance of trade.
- Financial integration, interest rate parity and balance of payments adjustment : from Mundell Fleming to the monetarist model.
- Why fixed exchange rates regimes fail now and why we still need a good model of floating rates systems ?

III. EMU : will it work ?

- An optimal currency area ?
- The stability pact : good or bad ?
- A need for fiscal federalism ?

IV. EMU : What must the ECB do ? How should it be designed in order to perform best ?

- Which monetary policy goals and instruments ?
- Transmission issues: are there asymmetries in the transmission of monetary policy among european countries ?

V. EMU and the wider world

- The Euro as an international currency
- EMU and the reform of the IMS..
 

Selected readings :

Bayoumi, T. and B. Eichengreen, « Exchange rate volatility and intervention : implications of the theory of optimum currency areas », WP, 1997.
Begg, D., von Hagen, J., Wyplosz, Ch., and F. Zimmermann (eds), EMU : Prospects and challenges for the Euro, Economic Policy (special issue), Blackwell, 1998.
Bordo, M. and L. Jonung, « The future of EMU : what does the history of monetary unions tell us ? », WP, 1999.
Bordo, M. and A. Schwartz, « Monetary policy regimes and economic performance : the historical record », WP NBER, 1997.
Buiter, W, « Alice in Euroland », WP, 1999
Buiter, W. and A. Sibert, « Transition issues for the European monetary union », WP NBER, 1997.
Chadha, J., and S. Hudson, « Turn of the century policy-making : comparing the 19th and 20th centuries », WP, 1999.
Eichengreen, B., « European monetary unification : a tour d’horizon », Oxford Review of  economic policy, 1999.
Eichengreen B, and M. Flandreau, « Vlocs, zones and bands : international monetary history in the light of theoretical developments », Scottish journal of political economy, 43, 1996, pp. 398-418.
Eichengreen, B. and F. Ghironi, « European monetary unification and international monetary cooperation », WP, 1996
Hughes Hallet, A. and L. Picitelli, « EMU in reality : the effect of a common monetary policy on economies with different transmission mecanisms », WP CEPR, 1999.
McCallum, B., « Theoretical issues pertaining to monetary union », WP, 1999.
Obstfeld, M., « EMU : ready or not ? », WP, 1998.
Rockoff, H., « How long did it take for the United States to become an optimal currency area ? », WP, 1999.
Svensson, L. « Monetary policy issues for the Eurosystem », Carnegie Rochester conference series, 1999.
Svensson, L., « Inflation targeting as a monetary policy rule », JME, 1999.
Vanthoor, W., European Monetary Union Since 1848: A Political and Historical Analysis.Brookfield: Edward Elgar, 1996.
Vaubel, R., « The future of the Euro : a public choice perspective », WP, 1999