Public currency at the precipice

Douglas R. Holmes

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Please cite the paper as:
“Douglas R. Holmes, (2012), Public currency at the precipice, World Economics Association (WEA) Conferences, No. 3 2012, Rethinking Financial Markets, 1st November to 31st December, 2012”

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Abstract

In this paper I look at how Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank, sought in the summer of 2012 to remake the euro as a “public currency” and, thus, further both the old and new agendas of European integration. To achieve this Draghi had to re-design the communicative architecture of the euro in order to speak to the predicaments of the European public. Yet to do this meant approaching the precipice: acknowledging that the ECB had lost control of the management of monetary policy.

Keywords: Euro, European Central Bank, Financial institutions, Fiscal and monetary policy, public currency, Recent history and the art of the possible