Now that four years have passed since the introduction of the euro as a commercial currency, it has become possible to … precisely that. In brief, the euro zone still falls short as an optimal currency area in most respects. In particular, an … assertions that the euro will force a liberalization of labor markets, so that they can serve as the principal vector of …

money in the future. If the euro continues to exist for the next half century or so and has a relatively stable value, we … conclude that the euro is likely to be serious competition for the dollar as the international money. …

Despite the expectations of economists that the euro changeover would have no effect on prices, we show that European …