The authors contend that the theory of optimum currency areas (OCA) provides a useful framework for discussions of monetary integration. The authors summarize the historical development of monetary integration and discuss possible future development. Theoretical issues, such as those raised in...

The authors analyze financial-system development in the so-called Visegrad Four countries (Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia) during 1993–2005. They conceptualize the Visegrad Group economy as a set of sectors that interchange financial assets to measure financial-system...