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Professor sparks European debate
By Ashley Preste
Published:
Thursday, April 15, 2004
Media Credit: Ashley Preste
Professor Ming Lo speaks to audience members Tuesday in the Miller Center Auditorium regarding the political and economic unification of Europe.
"Europe is changing, it is not one old continent anymore, and we need to highlight that," said Karolina Jasinska, president of the European Student Association (ESA).
Professor Ming Lo spoke to a student audience Tuesday in the Miller Center auditorium regarding the political and economic unification of Europe.
Lo's presentation marked the beginning of European week. Presentations discuss different aspects of Europe.
"The European Union is enlarging May 1," Jasinska said. "It is also the most developed of the regional organization in Asia. It will be interesting to observe how the power will change in the European economy."
Lo's presentation compared the way the European Central Banking System to that of the United States' Federal System.
"The European Union has 15 members of the Central Bank and four presidents present when discussing monetary policies, compared to the seven members of the FOMC and seats for four other presidents present in the U.S.," Lo said. "They are modeling the U.S. system."
Lo also discussed the idea of positive and negative shock to an economy.
Lo said that in the optimal currency area (OCA), an area where common economic shocks dominate and regular specific shocks are rare, the potential entity is not performed to the expectation of the OCA because of industrial specifications. One good factor is capital and labor mobility because it can make an entity a better OCA.
"With good capital and labor mobility, the area with negative shock will migrate to the faster growing area, and the positive shock will be tamed with the increase in supply," Lo said. "Going off of raw data, the E.U. will help out the poor members of the economy well."
With the creation of one form of a single currency, the euro, there is greater mobility for European citizens. Due to the fact that the exchange rate fluctuates, businesses could potentially be hurt by this if it is not predicted right. The euro depletes this problem, Lo said.
"This is a big event for Europe," said Alwynn Gilgen, vice president of the ESA. "People don't realize this because of the history of Europe. This is all voluntary and a peaceful unification."
"Both sides (Eastern and Western Europe) will benefit from this," Jasinska said. "They are both willing to cooperate. In the short run there will be some difficulties with people moving from east to west or west to east. Both sides have questions. But in the long run, it will be good."
"One thing that people don't realize is that these countries (in the E.U.) are not striving for cultural unification," Jasinska said. "They are not scared of losing their heritage because they see it as strength."
Professor Bradley Chisholm will discuss European cinema from 3-4 p.m. in the Miller Center auditorium today. European events week will come to a close Friday evening with a dance party called "Pulse Generation," 8:00 p.m. to midnight in Atwood.
The ESA welcomes students from all continents, Jasinska said. For further information on how to get involved, e-mail the ESA at
esa@stcloudstate.edu
.
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