"European monetary integration has posed tremendous challenges to governments since it removed the tool of currency depreciation previously used for dealing with economic imbalances. As a consequence, governments of member states of the Eurozone have turned to wage setting in order to achieve economic adjustment. In search of ways to adjust wage expectations to economic realities, governments have periodically intervened into wage setting systems in Western Europe over the last 25 years. During the process of European monetary integration wage setting institutions in most countries have generally remained centralized or become so; relations between governments and social partners have intensified rather than loosened. Wage Setting, Social Pacts and the Euro: A New Role for the State explains the reasons for this continued quest for social partnership in Western Europe. It highlights the economic and political benefits of negotiated wage restraint in a context of stricter monetary policies and increasing economic openness."--BOOK JACKET.