Slovak Republic entered the ERM II in the end of 2005 whereby it came nearer to its strategic objective - joining the euro area. In this paper we try to answer two questions. Section 1 examines the features and risks of the EMU. Is EMU an optimum currency area and what is the OCA scorecard of...

Market interest rates are usually determined not only by the inflation related determinants but also by the forces that affect real interest rates fluctuations. In point of fact the nominal interest rates are driven by many specific determinants so that it should not be clear the nominal...

The efficiency of macroeconomic policies depends on adequate business cycle approximation. Given that potential output and the output gap (the difference between actual and potential output) are not directly observable, their values need to be estimated using alternative statistical, structural,...

The transformation of the world economy over the past two decades has been manifesting itself in various forms. On the one hand, there is an increasing interdependence of the world economy, which is a manifestation of the depth of the globalization process, mainly thanks to the expansion of...