The Optimum Currency Area. Is the Euro Zone an Optimum Currency Area?

Although analyzed in terms of criteria for defining an optimum currency area, we could appreciate that EU fulfils certain criteria established within the theory of the optimum currency area. But in comparison with USA or Canada, the EU has less premises to effectively become such an area. The Economic and Monetary Union considered, from a certain point of view, the most ambitious and risky project of the European construction, is the result of a fundamental political decision within a powerful economic component. Despite the statute of sub-optimum currency area, there are still a series of arguments, both supportive and critical, for the settlement of an Economic and Monetary Union within the European space.