The paper critically considers the endogenous Optimum Currency Areas (or e-OCAs) theory, focussing initially on early studies having identified a relevant link between the creation of a monetary union and an upgrading of trade intensity between member countries, on the one hand, and the increase...

In this paper we investigate the skirmishes that the US dollar and the euro had from 2007 to 2011 and, in particular, the two distinct sharp falls that the single currency had in 2008 and 2010. We basically consider how impulses coming from domestic money markets impact on the USD/EUR exchange...

A mixture of political and economic reasons in support of what eventually came to be known as European Union (EU) were also evident in its recent expansion. Under the politico-military umbrella of NATO , the principles of capitalism were strengthened in Europe, and by extension the interests of...

The increased heterogeneity of the European market after the prospective joining of the acceding countries to EMU could imperil the latter’s stability. It is widely expected that following enlargement the optimality conditions of the eurozone will decrease, implying a more difficult...

The interaction of the export ratio and the investment ratio, including foreign direct investment ratio, with income per capita was examined for all members in the EU using Granger-causality tests. Best results were obtained when the investigated variables were expressed in levels. These results...

The implications of exchange rate regimes on economic growth have received renewed attention in the aftermath of the recent global financial crisis. Creating both bivariate and tripartite regime classifications the present study examines their impact on growth for 156 nations spanning the period...

The lack of cooperation between central banks is the most widely accepted interpretation of the collapse of the gold-exchange standard. This explanation does not take account of the evolution of systems of payment: national commodity moneys were progressively replaced by fiduciary money. These...

The Bretton Woods Agreement once again enabled states to use an international money. The traditional interpretations of this Agreement emphasize the extreme discontinuity between the period after the Second World War and the interwar period. Some interpretations insist on the fact that after the...

This paper provides a selective survey of some recent literature assessing exchange rate credibility through bayesian or nonhinear econometrjc frameworks. The empirical evidence from this literature suggests two main conclusions: one in retrospect, concerning the past experience of France in the...

The cross-country examination of monetary policy transparency scores, economic size and supply slopes produces no clear patterns for the empirical relations in question. This evidence prompts us to formulate a general setup for the study of currency union stabilization when there is monetary...