The Political Economy of European Monetary Unification: An Analytical Introduction

European monetary unification (EMU) ‐ the creation of a single European currency and a European Central Bank ‐ is both an economic and a political phenomenon. Yet few studies have attempted to address simultaneously the political and economic dimensions of the process. In this introduction, we review and extend the relevant literatures. The evidence leads us to conclude that EMU is driven mainly by political rather than economic factors, although our understanding of even these political forces remains incomplete.