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Center

Rudy Douven

Date of Ph.D. defense:September 20, 1995
Title of thesis: Policy Coordination and Convergence in the EU
ISBN:90 5668 004 8
Promotors:Prof.dr. Jef Plasmans and Prof.dr. Jacob Engwerda

Abstract:
This thesis addresses theoretical and empirical aspects of the impact of the Maastricht Treaty's (1991) convergence conditions on the EU-Member States. The convergence conditions are modelled as a restriction on a dynamic game between the EU-Member States. The theoretical part analyses cooperative games. In the empirical part a small linear interdependent multi-country model of eight EU-Member States, USA and Japan is developed. Some of the empirical results suggest that coordination is more profitable for the larger (leading, and more interdependent) economies, such as Germany and France, than for the smaller (following, and more dependent) economies, such as Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands.