| This essay will attempt to explain what caused the variation in policy outputs in response to the financial and economic crisis in the United States and the European Union which began in 2007. Specifically, it will examine the design of fiscal and monetary stimulus in both regions, as well as the development of financial supervisory and regulatory legislation. Ultimately it will be shown that the variation in policy outputs was the result of differing constitutional mandates, relation to public opinion, and dominant policy paradigms at the respective central banks; evolving contemporary political trends; and differing concentrations of legislative power, understood from the perspectives of federalism and multi-level governance. |
