Authors: Daniel Gros and Ansgar Belke

Series: CEPS Paperback No of pp: 92

This book illustrates how the structure of the US banking market and the existence of federal institutions allowed regional financial shocks to be absorbed at the federal level in the US, thus avoiding local financial crisis. The authors argue that the experience of the US shows the importance of a ‘banking union’ to avoid severe regional (national) financial dislocation in the wake of regional boom and bust cycles. They also discuss the extent to which the institutions of the partial banking union, now in the process of being created for the euro area, should be able to increase its capacity to deal with future regional boom and bust cycles, thereby stabilising the single currency.

Daniel Gros is Director of CEPS. Ansgar Belke is Associate Senior Research Fellow at CEPS and Ad Personam Jean Monnet Professor of Macroeconomics and Director of the Institute of Business and Economic Studies (IBES) at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

This book is co-published with Rowman and Littlefield International (RLI) and can be purchased for £12.95 in either paperback or as an e-Book or for £44.95 in hardback from the RLI website (www.rowmaninternational.com). It is also available for free downloading in a PDF file on the CEPS website.