In this lecture we'll look at the institutions of the EU, their role in convergence between member states of the EU, and possible policy problems arising from the interaction of member states with different, perhaps irreconcilable, differences. Lecture notes are here. For next week, make sure you've at least read the Buiter reading in the course pack, and Philip Lane's article on fiscal councils.
Here are two data exercises for you to try on your own.
Exercise1. Take the data from the table linked here and compute the variance (in Excel the command is Variance) of each country’s GDP over time against the EU-27 average. Has this Variance increased or decreased? Why do you think this is?
Exercise 2. Looking at the graph here, you can see there are (roughly) 3 different slopes within the graph, from 1995 to 1999, from 2000 to 2003, and from 2004 to 2009. Why do you think this is?