Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
The paper applies an approach to medium-term policy-making that emphasizes the case for tax-rate smoothing to the present situation of the European community and particularly the U.K. within it. U.K. attempts since 1960 at a medium-term framework for policy are reviewed, as is the erosion over the same period of the scope for national policy as a result largely of EC developments relating to harmonization and convergence. While EMU would assign monetary policy to the Community level, the small size of the central budget effectively assigns fiscal policy to the national level with implications that are explored. The wisdom of EMU is questioned in the light of the heterogeneity and low labor mobility of member states. Recent German experience illustrates some of these problems and the contributions of (mis)management of unification to Europe's current macroeconomic disarray is also assessed. Copyright 1994 by Oxford University Press.