This study examines the optimality of sovereign debt restructuring alternatives within a currency union. Its results suggest that upfront debt relief works better than extra lending, as the latter runs the risk of breaking up the union. Based on the model of Gali & Monacelli (2008), I adopt a...

Two seemingly unconnected empirical results suggest an intriguing mechanism. First, economic integration helps harmonize prices internationally, with trade being the primary channel (Rogoff 1996, Goldberg and Knetter 1997). Second, monetary union may greatly increase the amount of trade among...