The Euro: How a Common Currency Threatens the Future of Europe

The euro was supposed to bring Europe closer together and promote prosperity; in fact, it has done just the opposite. The 2008 crisis revealed the shortcomings of the euro, and Europe's stagnation and bleak outlook are a direct result of the fundamental flaws inherent in the EU project-economic integration outpacing political integration with a structure that promotes divergence rather than convergence. The question then is: Can the euro be saved? Laying bare the European Central Bank's misguided inflation-only mandate, and explaining why austerity has condemned Europe to unending stagnation, Joseph E. Stiglitz outlines three possible ways forward: fundamental reforms in the structure of the Eurozone and the policies imposed on the member countries suffering the most; a well-managed end to the European Union; or a bold, new system dubbed the "flexible euro." With its lessons for globalization in a world economy ever more deeply connected, The Euro is urgent and essential reading.

“"The euro is a modern tragedy....As its embarrassments have mounted, its supporters club has teemed with political romantics and Europhile journalists. Stiglitz's message to such people is that they are inadvertently destroying what they most cherish."”

"Much more than a demolition job. These chapters are full of constructive proposals - a glimpse of what the ‘rescues’ would have looked like had the troika, perish the thought, hired their critic Stiglitz to design them." -- Marin Sandbu - Financial Times
"[Stiglitz] is surely right. Without a radical overhaul of its workings, the euro seems all but certain to fail." -- The Economist
"Terrific and clarifying." -- Peter Goodman - The New York Times
"Many of Mr. Stiglitz’s most damning observations are on target." -- Wall Street Journal
"The euro is a modern tragedy.…As its embarrassments have mounted, its supporters club has teemed with political romantics and Europhile journalists. Stiglitz’s message to such people is that they are inadvertently destroying what they most cherish." -- Paul Collier - Times Literary Supplement
"A cogent and urgent argument of compelling interest to economists and policymakers." -- Kirkus Reviews

Joseph E. Stiglitz is a Nobel Prize-winning economist and the best-selling author of The Price of Inequality, Freefall, and Globalization and Its Discontents. He is a columnist for the New York Times and Project Syndicate and has written for Vanity Fair, Politico, The Atlantic, and Harper's. He teaches at Columbia University and lives in New York City.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.