Globalization, Nationalism, and Clearing Systems

Related publications

• Working Paper No.866 16 May 2016

  Going Forward from B to A?

  Luca Fantacci, Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Gennaro Zezza and Massimo Amato
  Abstract

  After reviewing the main determinants of the current eurozone crisis, this paper discusses the feasibility of introducing fiscal currencies as a way to restore fiscal space in peripheral countries, like Greece, that have so far adopted austerity measures in order to abide by their commitments to eurozone institutions and the International Monetary Fund. We show that the introduction of fiscal currencies would speed up the recovery, without violating the rules of eurozone treaties. At the same time, these processes could help transition the euro from its current status as the single currency to the status of “common clearing currency,” along the lines proposed by John Maynard Keynes at Bretton Woods as a system of international monetary payments. Eurozone countries could therefore move from “Plan B,” aimed at addressing member-state domestic problems, to a “Plan A” for a better European monetary system.

  Download Working Paper No. 866 PDF (550.46 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No.144 08 September 2017

  A Two-Tier Eurozone or a Euro of Regions?

  Jan Kregel
  Abstract

  In light of the problems besetting the eurozone, this policy brief examines the contributions of John Maynard Keynes and Richard Kahn to early debates over the design of the postwar international financial system. Their critical engagement with the early policy challenges associated with managing international settlements offers a perspective from which to analyze the flaws in the current euro-based financial system, and Keynes’s clearing union proposal offers a template for a better approach. A system of regional federations employing a clearing system in which members either retained their own currency or used a common currency as a unit of account in registering debits and credits for settlement purposes would preserve domestic policy independence and retain regional diversity.
   

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 144, 2017 PDF (165.35 KB)