On 12 December 2016, the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence hosted an ADEMU mini-conference on the topic of Fiscal Federalism for the EMU.`
The event began with the presentation of three different views on fiscal federalism for the EMU: Professor Waltraud Schelkle (London School of Economics) discussed her work on the introduction of the Hamilton’s Paradox in the political economy of monetary solidarity; Professor Alicia Hinarejos (University of Cambridge) explored the evolution of fiscal federalism within the EMU and the possible future choices for the EMU; and Professor Carlos Pereira (Getulio Vargas Foundation) examined the lessons that the EMU may learn from the Brazilian experience of fiscal and political centralization. This first session was chaired by EUI’s Tomasz Wozniakowski, who specialises in political economy, federalism and intergovernmental relations, and comparative politics.
Following this introductory discussion, Professor Jonathan Rodden (Stanford University) presented his ADEMU-Pierre Werner Chair lecture, Representation and Redistribution in Federations: Lessons for the EMU. Professor Rodden explained his significant interest in this topic, and described how he had applied his on work on numerous federations in the United States and extracted lessons and principles that could be theoretically applied to the European Monetary Union. You can see the full lecture here.
His lecture acknowledged the significant political shift in recent weeks and months, and examined the urban/rural dimension to political conflict, referencing the US political system and comparing it to the recent Austrian presidential election, the UK’s Brexit vote and the Italian referendum. Professor Rodden discussed the lessons that could be learned from fiscal unions within the US, examining stabilization and fiscal flows, grant versus fiscal flows and the effects of the great recession of 2008.
A round-table panel discussion chaired by Pierre Schossler concluded the conference. Pierre introduced the debate by asking the panel – Youssef Cassis (EUI-HEC&RSCAS), Stefan Grundmann (EUI-LAW), Philipp Genschel (EUI-SPS&RSCAS), Ramon Marimon (EUI-ECO&RSCAS) and Philippe Van Parijs (Université Catholique de Louvain) – to express their views on the potential of a fiscal union for the EMU. The panel also discussed if and how a supranational fiscal center could be accepted in the current populist context. You can see the discussion here.
The ADEMU project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No.649396. Any works/results included within the material published or linked to on this page reflect only the author’s view and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.