Feedback mechanisms are the key to sequencing when it comes to regional integration; can mean that today's policy or institution alters the political-economy landscape in a way that makes it politically optimal for future governments to take further steps toward integration - even when these...

The consensus back in 2008 – ten years after the introduction of the euro – was that the adoption of a common currency had made a limited impact of around 2% in total on the trade flows of the first wave of euro area countries (Baldwin et al., 2008). Since then, six more countries have...

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is widely recognized as an engine of the structural transformation in development theories. We analyzed the effects of FDI on the structural transformation in West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) countries by considering the industry, manufacturing,...

The principal goal of integration in Europe has always been the safeguarding of peace through economic integration. The European Union (EU) has overseen splendid economic achievements. A sign of that great success has been the EU's continuous enlargement. The eurozone is the crown jewel in the...

This paper suggests some of the ways whereby regional financial and monetary cooperation can be considered as a way West African countries can integrate into the global economy rather than just focusing on individual countries. Prior to the enormous economic deficits that have engulfed most...

Recent developments in the monetary situation in West Africa, in particular the transformation for the CFA franc area and the project to build a single currency for the CEDEAO/ECOWAS, require a systematic review of the assumptions underlying the formation of monetary unions. The article provides...

The increasing occurrence of national, regional, and global financial crises, together with their rising costs and complexity, have increased calls for greater regional and global monetary cooperation. This is particularly necessary in light of volatile capital flow movements that can quickly...

Bilateral and regional cooperation initiatives in Asia have been growing in importance over the last five years.These accords span the real and financial sectors; rather than following the more typical pattern of "trade first,money later", recent policy initiatives involve the simultaneous...

Sweden became a member of the European Union (EU) in 1995. Since then, she has been integrated into the EU's internal market under the Single Market Programme (SMP). Before Sweden's accession to the EU, she was a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) signed with the EU in 1972....