Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of boxes
- Part I The economics of the European Union
- 1 Old Europe, new Europe: the role of the European Union
- 2 A dispute over origins: the European view versus the American perspective
- 3 The customs union and the diversion of trade
- 4 The Common Agricultural Policy and reforms: feeding Europe and then some
- 5 The euro: the ultimate currency reform?
- 6 The European Central Bank in action
- 7 The single market: from eliminating non-tariff barriers to enforcing competition
- 8 The single market in labor: from refugees to Schengen
- 9 The single market in capital: from Bretton Woods to Maastricht
- 10 The EU inside and out: regional policy and development aid
- 11 The EU: the other economic superpower?
- Part II The economies of Europe
- Suggestions for further reading
- Index
9 - The single market in capital: from Bretton Woods to Maastricht
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of boxes
- Part I The economics of the European Union
- 1 Old Europe, new Europe: the role of the European Union
- 2 A dispute over origins: the European view versus the American perspective
- 3 The customs union and the diversion of trade
- 4 The Common Agricultural Policy and reforms: feeding Europe and then some
- 5 The euro: the ultimate currency reform?
- 6 The European Central Bank in action
- 7 The single market: from eliminating non-tariff barriers to enforcing competition
- 8 The single market in labor: from refugees to Schengen
- 9 The single market in capital: from Bretton Woods to Maastricht
- 10 The EU inside and out: regional policy and development aid
- 11 The EU: the other economic superpower?
- Part II The economies of Europe
- Suggestions for further reading
- Index
Summary
The Single European Act of 1986 declared a commitment by each member state to four freedoms: free movement of goods, services, labor, and capital. As far as the movement of goods was concerned, the Act simply addressed the non-tariff barriers that impeded the full operation of the customs union with its tariff-free trade area, as discussed in chapter 7. Services, other than in the distribution of goods including the finance of distribution, are largely non-tradable in any event. Labor, as discussed in chapter 8, has not moved nearly as much as is possible in theory, due to the advantages of working in one's home country and producing tradable goods and services. The free movement of capital, by contrast, was a major change in national economic policy, and twenty years later it is by no means fully established within the European Union, especially with respect to the ten accession countries that joined in 2004. While the rigidity of national labor markets in response to the challenges of the single market and the common currency can be understood in terms of domestic political pressures, the resistance of national capital markets to the challenges of the single market and the common currency is less easily understood. The barriers to free movement of capital within the European Union have become more visible and appear more susceptible to action by the Commission and the European Central Bank.
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- The Economics of Europe and the European Union , pp. 158 - 170Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007