Overview

By building on a recent research comparing the EU and US and drawing on Riker's influential theory of federalism, this books explores the origins of fiscal unions. It investigates early American history and traces its constitutional debates to argue that an internal threat - such as sovereign debt crisis leading to social unrest threatening the Union - triggers emergence of federal taxing powers - i.e. a federal fiscal union. It then contrasts the American experience of fiscal integration with the European one and subsequently concludes with the insights for the EU. It is a first monograph to compare the American and European models of fiscal integration, making two original contributions to the theoretical and empirical literature. In reference to the former, it introduces the concept of fiscalization, which defines the emergence of a 'fiscal union' with federal tax powers. Concerning the latter, by analysing the Confederation period of the US and applying Riker's theory using mainly unexplored primary sources, such as the protocols from state ratification conventions of 1787/88, this book adds to the US-EU comparative federalism literature. It shows that paradoxically, by not agreeing to give the EU fiscal capacity, so that they could protect their fiscal sovereignty, member states gave up more of this very fiscal sovereignty to the central institutions, than states in classical federations. This research allows the reader to learn about the similarities - and the differences - between the pre-Constitution US and the modern EU with regards to their fiscal arrangements; a comparison of the arguments that were used while debating those arrangements; and finally - the conditions under which central level of government in the systems of multi-level government is likely to get a power to tax.

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9780192858436

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Although there is a significant literature on the comparison between the US and the EU, little research has been done on the fiscal differences between them. Using the Riker's theory of internal threat, the book by Tomasz P. Wozniakowski innovatively compares the 1780s sovereign debt crisis in the US with the 2010s equivalent crisis in the EU, to show the conditions which led to fiscalization in the US (creation of an independent federal fiscal power) and increased fiscal regulation of member state policies plus quasi-fiscalization in the EU. With the paradox that the US federated states are much more sovereign in fiscal policies than the EU member states. This is a wonderful work of scholarship but also a required reading for those policymakers engaged in reforming the fiscal structure of the EU economic governance. * Sergio Fabbrini, Dean of the LUISS Political Science Department, Rome * The fiscal integration of a federation is necessarily a highly fraught process. By comparing the 18th-century United States with the modern European Union, Wozniakowski manages to shed new light on both of these complex histories. He emphasizes their different responses to analogous shocks to their regimes of public debt management. He marshals considerable research to explain why the United States made this transition and the European Union has not, despite the advantages it might confer on the member states. * Robin L. Einhorn, Professor of History, emerita, University of California, Berkeley * The Covid pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine have demonstrated quite clearly the weakness of the European Union. Europe's fiscal incapacities are central to why the EU cannot meet the challenges it faces today. Tomasz Wozniakowski's excellent book examines the origins of fiscal federalism in the United States with a careful eye towards the implications of these processes for the European Union. This insightful and illuminating analysis sheds profound light on both the challenges and opportunities for the European Union as it confronts the many challenges of the modern world. This book should be required reading for anyone who wishes to understand the future of a more coherent European Union. * Sven H. Steinmo, Professor of Political Science, University of Colorado, Boulder * Among supporters of European integration, it has become a reflex to respond to every policy challenge in the monetary union with the call for a fiscal union. Here is finally a book that studies fiscal integration in the EU as a case of a coming-together federation, in comparison with the United States. It is solidly researched and bold in its conclusions; what more can we ask from scholarly work? Highly recommended. * Waltraud Schelkle, Professor in Political Economy, London School of Economics and Political Science * What drives the development of fiscal unions? In this ground-breaking, diachronic comparison of the early US with the current EU, Tomasz Wozniakowski delves into the little-known debates of key actors on fiscal integration in order to demonstrate convincingly that the key driver of fiscalization is internal threat during sovereign debt crises. A must read for all those interested in why America had a Hamiltonian moment and Europe did not during the Eurozone crisis * Vivien A. Schmidt, Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration, Boston University * In his new book, Fiscal Unions, Tomasz Wozniakowski uses the comparison between the United States and the European Union to make two points that are central to the debate about Europe's post-pandemic future. The first is that fiscal integration is more of a trade-off than a constraint; governments that insist on a monopoly of fiscal power will quickly find themselves restricted in how they use that authority. Cue the debate underway on the rules for macroeconomic policy coordination. The second is that the power to tax is more important than the power to spend. Agreement on Next Generation EU was the easy part; finding the 'own resources' for the European Commission to repay its debts will be both harder and more fundamentally transformative. These insights and more make this book essential reading. * Erik Jones, Director of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute * Why did the states in the US agreed on a full-fledged fiscal union early on, equipping the federal government with a vast power to tax? And what can the Europeans learn from this American experience? These questions are explored with commendable clarity in the fascinating book of Tomasz Wozniakowski providing crucial insights not only for scholars but also to policymakers in Europe and elsewhere. * Laszlo Bruszt, Democracy Institute, Central European University *

Although there is a significant literature on the comparison between the US and the EU, little research has been done on the fiscal differences between them. Using the Riker's theory of internal threat, the book by Tomasz P. Wozniakowski innovatively compares the 1780s sovereign debt crisis in the US with the 2010s equivalent crisis in the EU, to show the conditions which led to fiscalization in the US (creation of an independent federal fiscal power) and increased fiscal regulation of member state policies plus quasi-fiscalization in the EU. With the paradox that the US federated states are much more sovereign in fiscal policies than the EU member states. This is a wonderful work of scholarship but also a required reading for those policymakers engaged in reforming the fiscal structure of the EU economic governance. * Sergio Fabbrini, Dean of the LUISS Political Science Department, Rome * The fiscal integration of a federation is necessarily a highly fraught process. By comparing the 18th-century United States with the modern European Union, Wozniakowski manages to shed new light on both of these complex histories. He emphasizes their different responses to analogous shocks to their regimes of public debt management. He marshals considerable research to explain why the United States made this transition and the European Union has not, despite the advantages it might confer on the member states. * Robin L. Einhorn, Professor of History, emerita, University of California, Berkeley * The Covid pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine have demonstrated quite clearly the weakness of the European Union. Europe's fiscal incapacities are central to why the EU cannot meet the challenges it faces today. Tomasz Wozniakowski's excellent book examines the origins of fiscal federalism in the United States with a careful eye towards the implications of these processes for the European Union. This insightful and illuminating analysis sheds profound light on both the challenges and opportunities for the European Union as it confronts the many challenges of the modern world. This book should be required reading for anyone who wishes to understand the future of a more coherent European Union. * Sven H. Steinmo, Professor of Political Science, University of Colorado, Boulder * Among supporters of European integration, it has become a reflex to respond to every policy challenge in the monetary union with the call for a fiscal union. Here is finally a book that studies fiscal integration in the EU as a case of a coming-together federation, in comparison with the United States. It is solidly researched and bold in its conclusions; what more can we ask from scholarly work? Highly recommended. * Waltraud Schelkle, Professor in Political Economy, London School of Economics and Political Science * What drives the development of fiscal unions? In this ground-breaking, diachronic comparison of the early US with the current EU, Tomasz Wozniakowski delves into the little-known debates of key actors on fiscal integration in order to demonstrate convincingly that the key driver of fiscalization is internal threat during sovereign debt crises. A must read for all those interested in why America had a Hamiltonian moment and Europe did not during the Eurozone crisis * Vivien A. Schmidt, Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration, Boston University * In his new book, Fiscal Unions, Tomasz Wozniakowski uses the comparison between the United States and the European Union to make two points that are central to the debate about Europe's post-pandemic future. The first is that fiscal integration is more of a trade-off than a constraint; governments that insist on a monopoly of fiscal power will quickly find themselves restricted in how they use that authority. Cue the debate underway on the rules for macroeconomic policy coordination. The second is that the power to tax is more important than the power to spend. Agreement on Next Generation EU was the easy part; finding the 'own resources' for the European Commission to repay its debts will be both harder and more fundamentally transformative. These insights and more make this book essential reading. * Erik Jones, Director of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute * Why did the states in the US agreed on a full-fledged fiscal union early on, equipping the federal government with a vast power to tax? And what can the Europeans learn from this American experience? These questions are explored with commendable clarity in the fascinating book of Tomasz Wozniakowski providing crucial insights not only for scholars but also to policymakers in Europe and elsewhere. * Laszlo Bruszt, Democracy Institute, Central European University *

Author Information

"Tomasz P. Woźniakowski is a Doctor of Political and Social Sciences of the European University Institute (Florence), an Assistant Professor (adiunkt) at the Institute of Political Science, University of Wrocław, and a Lecturer at Stanford in Berlin. His research focuses on the political economy of the EU through the lens of comparative federalism. He was awarded the Fulbright-Schuman Fellowship, the first College of Europe-Arenberg European Prize ""Exploring Federal Solutions"" for an article eventually published in the Journal of European Public Policy and the Supranational Political Economy Prize for his PhD dissertation. He was a Post-Doctoral Researcher for Leviathan, an ERC-funded project at the Hertie School, Berlin and a visiting fellow at University of California, Berkeley, LMU Munich and LUISS Rome."

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