Summary Applying hard and soft clustering algorithms to a set of variables suggested by the convergence criteria and the theory of optimal currency areas, this paper examines the suitability of countries in the west African region to form the proposed monetary unions, the West African Monetary...

This paper revisits the link between fixed exchange rate regimes and trade in the context of Africa’s exchange rate arrangements, differentiating the effects of hard pegs (currency unions) from conventional soft pegs. Using a novel dataset of exchange rate regime classification, the paper...