A lack of economic convergence among euro member countries seems to be feeding euro-skepticism. Using a Structural Vector Auto Regression model combined with a time varying correlation analysis, we attempt to test the endogeneity theory for the three core euro members, i.e., France, Germany, and...

This paper analyses the feasibility of a monetary union within the Mercosur, focusing on cycle synchronicity. Three questions are addressed, concerning respectively the features of shocks hitting each member, the impact of exchange rate regime differences on countries’ responses and the share...

What lessons can be drawn from the European experience with regional integration that started in the 1950s, for regional integration in Latin America, which is still in its early stages? We present here a new indicator of institutional integration and study how it developed vis-à-vis diverse...

This paper presents a two-country two-industry monetary model, with intermediate inputs and transport costs, which builds a bridge between the New Open Economy Macroeconomics and the New Economic Geography literatures. Endogenously asymmetric shocks arise in this model when the exchange rate...

The six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and U.A.E.) have exhibited considerable cooperation in the past for deepening the process of economic integration, and there is an animated debate in the academic and policy circles as to whether...

This paper re-visits the subject of a common currency for the Pacific region, comprising 14 Pacific island countries (PICs) and the region’s two advanced countries, Australia and New Zealand. The PICs are highly dependent on Australia and New Zealand for trade in goods and services and aid...

This paper studies the feasibility of ASEAN+3 Monetary Union by investigating the homogeneities of the countries. Utilizing techniques of cluster analysis on two sets of criteria, the Optimum Currency Area (OCA) and the adjusted Maastricht Treaty (MTC), reveals that homogeneities of ASEAN+3 are...

This paper examines the circumstances under which it is beneficial for small countries in a currency union to peg their currency to a large one (euro zone for example). For these purposes, we provide a three-country theoretical model extending the two-country model by Ricci (2008). The...

This paper investigates empirically the economic feasibility of monetary integration in East Asia. A structural VAR model is employed to decompose real output, real exchange rate and price level into a lagged polynomial of supply, demand and monetary shocks. The shocks are identified through the...

This paper examines the macroeconomic costs and benefits of dollarization. Economic theory suggests that the main benefit is enhanced price stability, while the main cost is higher business-cycle volatility if the dollarizing country’s output is not sufficiently correlated with that of the...