The latest crackpot idea for shoring up Europe's monetary union, much discussed at last week's spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and now widely promoted by eurocrats, is the establishment of a federal banking system, with a single framework for regulation, bailouts, deposit insurance, supervision and resolution. There is, of course, nothing particularly new in the proposal; for many economists, it's long been seen as an essential precondition for successful monetary union, at least as important as the federalisation of fiscal and political systems. The one cannot work without the others. The dollar, ... (full story)