Economic and monetary integration and the 'constitutionalisation' of macroeconomic policy making?

This work discusses the constitutionalization of rules in macroeconomic policy-making in the European Union (EU) with reference to European monetary integration. The analysis deals with two main monetary arrangements, the European Monetary System (EMS) and the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), and focuses on one country - Italy. Using an interdisciplinary perspective and a constitutional political economy approach, three sets of factors are identified to explain how and why policy-makers may decide to self-limit their sovereignty in monetary and fiscal policies, as they have done in the process of European monetary integration. It is argued that such factors influenced the dynamics and evolution of the European monetary arrangements, shaping the path to EMU.