The political and social economy of the Eurozone

The papers in this thesis explore the political and social economy of the Eurozone. The first part of the thesis examines the political economic effects of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Here I ask why some countries fare better than others in the Eurozone (Chapter 1) and who the actors behind Germany's remarkable success are (Chapter 2). The second part of the thesis covers the socioeconomic effects of the EMU. This part studies how European integration in general and the EMU in particular affects the distribution of income (Chapter 3), and the link between social policy preferences and social policy output (Chapter 4). In the conclusion, I emphasize that any reform proposal for the Eurozone needs to rely on the insights of both parts of the thesis in order to be successful. Put differently, the political economy and the social economy of the Eurozone should always be considered jointly