The book is an edited volume on the intellectual and political genesis of the European Union, focusing especially on its relationship to classical liberalism. Alberto Giovannini (1955-2019) was one of Italy’s most distinguished economists. An influential macroeconomist and financial economist, he was associated with CEPR, taught at Columbia and, in 1993, joined the Italian civil service where he headed the international debt office. Giovannini’s vast legacy in the world of studies and ideas prompted this book in his honor, on the occasion of his untimely passing away in 2019. This book originates from the proceedings of a conference the Italian think tank Istituto Bruno Leoni hosted in March 2019, on “Market Economy in Europe and the Integration Process: The Power of Ideas and Social Change”. Many of the participants have written a chapter for the book, which is divided into three parts: (1) the origins of the European project; (2) how the new enthusiasm for liberalization associated with Reagan and Thatcher helped to revive it in the 1980s; (3) current challenges.This book highlights the role liberal (pro-market) ideas played in the early developments of the European Union, in shaping the European single market and the Euro, and how they should be coming into play again, if the European project is to be revived. weiterlesen