A number of studies have concluded that, contrary to expectations, European monetary union has not reduced income disparities among the 12 Western European member countries. In fact, incomes per capita between Southern and Northern Eurozone members have diverged since the Eurozone was created,...

We propose using a simple Taylor rule to evaluate business cycle convergence of the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland with the Eurozone. Our findings indicate an ongoing convergence of those CEE countries to the Eurozone, but with instabilities and heterogeneity between the countries....

In light of 50 years of economic policies designed to integrate Europe - culminating in the elimination of euro zone national currencies in early 2002 - and a vast academic literature on international economic integration, it is of interest to assess how far European integration has come in...