We test for real interest rate convergence in the EU25 area. Our contribution is twofold: first, we account for the … have important implications relating to the single monetary policy and the progress new EU members have achieved towards …

Using pooled mean-group estimation we first analyse conditional convergence in the EU15 area in 1960-2002. Conditional … convergence is well documented for the EU15 countries and deeper European integration is mostly shown to have fastened convergence … method in order to estimate the conditional convergence of the new EU member countries of Central and Eastern Europe towards …

paper is two-fold. First we simulate the impact of the eastern enlargement of the EU and, second, we analyse how deeper … integration between the EU and FSU contributes to this. The analysis is carried out with GTAP computable general equilibrium model …, even in its very deep form, be beneficial for all EU regions without causing substantial welfare losses outside the Union …