Intensive Lectures: "Bilateralism vs. Multilateralism in a Global Economy:The case of the EU (Professor Patrick Messerlin)," and "Current Developments in EU Taxation (Professor Gerhart Kraft)"
January 7 ・9, 2010
On January 7 and 9, 2010, intensive lectures were presented by Institut d’Etudes Potitiques de Paris (France) Professor of Economics Patrick Messerlin and Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (Germany) Faculty of Law and Economics Professor Gerhard Kraft at Keio University. Messerlin addressed the relation between financial policy and trade structure in the EU, and showed how while the introduction of the common currency eliminated exchange risk within the region and made trade more active, each country also lost its freedom to control monetary policy, and that has affected export capabilities. Kraft focused on tax systems and enterprise behavior in EU countries, and noted that the need to harmonize tax systems and other financial policies throughout the EU because firms will move their bases seeking the most advantageous conditions. Both of these stimulating lectures explained the European experience whereby currency integration had a huge impact on international financial and traded goods markets, and they provoked keen interest among the audience.
Double-degree agreements have been concluded between Institut d’Etudes Potitiques de Paris (“Science Po”) and the Keio University Graduate School of Economics, and between Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg and Keio University.