The planned economic integration of European countries in 1992 is leading the United States to predict future effects on money, taxes and people, said the Dean of the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Business.

Jerry Zoffer said Europe is trying to create a common currency with equal tax rates and unified workers.

Zoffer, along with four panelists specializing in European affairs, spoke during the Europe '92 teleconference from Oklahoma State University.

About 75 Penn State students and faculty watched the conference via satellite in Kern Auditorium. More than 150 universities in the United States, Canada and Mexico were linked to the conference.

Europe is working toward the creation of a central bank, in which bankers could lend or borrow money without governmental consent, Zoffer said. This would provide free mobility of financial firms.

Currently Citibank, American Express and other large American banks are in Europe. If a politically controlled central bank in Europe is established, the United States will be part of the major network in Europe, said panelist Merrill Burns, senior vice-president/manager for Financial Institutions with the Bank of America.

But little harmony in either direct or indirect taxation exists in Europe now, panelists said.

Europe plans to model a tax after the U.S. sales tax, said another panelist, Francine Lamoniello of KTMG Peat Marwick, one of the nation's largest accounting firms. A unanimous vote among countries is necessary to create a common tax rate and eliminate double taxation, she said, but the idea is controversial.

A social dimension in Europe would benefit European Economic Community workers by providing benefits, compensation and pension, Lamoniello said.

The teleconference, the third and last of a series this academic year, was very successful in providing students with a greater understanding of the coming European changes, Koot said.

Learning about European affairs will internationalize Penn State business students and make them more aware, said Ronald Koot, assistant dean of Undergraduate Programs.

Koot directed the teleconference in Kern with the titled theme: "The Making of Europe-1992: People, Taxes and Money."

Noah Barsky (sophomore-accounting) said he attended the program out of personal interest. He said the discussion was beneficial, because he plans on basing his senior thesis on global accounting and marketing standards.

The three teleconferences on Europe were coordinated by the Commission of European Communities offices in Washington, D.C., and Brussels; The College of Business Administration at Oklahoma University; and the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business.

The other panelists included: Ingo Walter, a Gitlow professor of International Business at the Leonard N. Stern School of Business in New York and Gunter Dufey, professor in School of Business Administration at the University of Michigan.