Monetary Unions and the Problem of Sovereignty

Abstract

Different types of monetary sovereignty are issues in exchange rate agreements monetary unions. Policy sovereignty refers to independence in making exchange rate and monetary policy, legal sovereignty to a country's ability to make its own laws with respect to the unit of contract and medium of exchange. This article traces the history of the concepts and their applications in the history of political philosophy and monetary policies. The first section relates the concepts of legal and policy sovereignty as they emerged in Roman law into the Europe of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The second part discusses the implication of the sovereignty issue for choice along the road to the European Monetary Union.

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