This paper examines the relevance of the Balassa-Samuelson productivity-bias hypothesis for explaining long-run permanent shocks in the real exchange rates. The sample consists of yearly data on real exchange rates and productivity for six OECD countries. On the basis of Johansens maximum...

This paper studies the impact of real effective exchange rate volatility on economic growth as well as the euro’s impact on real effective exchange rate volatility. We first show that after a plausible endogeneity correction, real effective exchange rate volatility is negatively associated...

Regional trade arrangements are becoming an increasingly popular vehicle for the promotion of trade and growth. In East Africa the previously defunct East Africa Customs Union has been resurrected to improve trade between Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. To facilitate the development of the East...

The case of Switzerland appears to be unique with regard to the European Economic and Monetary Integration Process which began in 1957: even though the country has cultivated close ties and growing links with the European Union (EU) over time, it does not desire full membership. If this...

The paper applies fuzzy clustering techniques to the member countries of the European Union in order to arrive at an identification of preferred monetary union groupings. The statistical criteria employed are those suggested, alternatively, by the traditional Optimal Currency Area theory or the...

This paper examines the hypothesis of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), i.e. the proposition that the equilibrium real exchange rate is a constant in the long run, in the case of Europe of the 15. For that purpose, we study the statistical properties of 14 European bilateral real exchange rates...

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...

In this paper, we investigate whether the recent financial turmoil which arose in the United States has contaminated the Middle East and North African countries (MENA). In contrast to Lagoard-Segot and Lucey (2009), we try to identify the existence of pure contagion (Masson, 1999) rather than...

This paper analyzes the time-varying integration of the Greek stock market from a regional perspective by using a conditional version of the international capital asset pricing model (ICAPM) allowing for dynamic changes in the degree of market integration, regional market currency risk, and...