Has the EMS changed wage and price behaviour in Europe?

Abstract

Macroeconomic performance in Europe was generally agreed to have been poor in the 1970s, with high inflation and low growth. The 1980s saw a significant improvement, with inflation being reduced to under 5 per cent by the end of the decade, and growth reaching some sort of peak in 1989. There were many factors contributing to this improved performance, and the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) of the European Monetary System (EMS) has been given much of the credit. The ERM was supposed to have given the monetary authorities in France and Italy increased anti-inflationary credibility. Their decision to link their exchange rates to the D-Mark involved a commitment to follow German monetary policy and hence involved taking on German anti-inflationary credibility.