We revisit the subject of country-level macroeconomic adjustment in the euro area in the absence of autonomous monetary and exchange rate policy. We discuss how the procyclical real interest rate mechanism and the competitiveness channel of adjustment interact with various aspects of...

This paper examines the sensibility of a proposed monetary union in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The study hypothesizes that the majority of the economies in the SADC region are candidates for a monetary union. We test this hypothesis against one of the prime optimal...

This paper attempts to examine the challenges of monetary integration in the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) during the period 2001-2017, within the framework of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Monetary Cooperation Programme (EMCP). The paper recounts the evolution of...

Since the 1970s the characteristics of international business cycles have changed and deeper economic integration has modified the features of cross-country comovement. We formally test for correlation shifts in measures of real economic activity and economic/financial integration. In Europe we...

In this article, the issue of the monetary independence problem in view of the Romania's European Monetary Union accession is investigated empirically. It is frequently argued that for such a country, the main cost of participation in a currency area is the loss of monetary policy independence....

Objective: The objective of the article is to determine which exchange rate regime provides higher bilateral trade: fixed rate or currency union. Research Design & Methods: An index was designed based on variables commonly recognised as those that might affect the value of bilateral trade and...

This article is a response to an analysis of real exchange rate variability as a test of countries' suitability for euro zone membership and the application of the conclusions to countries in Latin America. The weakness of this approach is that it ignores the scale and, especially, the...

We derive Taylor rates for those CEE-EU countries which are not part of the Eurozone. The degree of heterogeneity decreased tremendously over time (2005 - 2015). Nevertheless, the business cycles are still not fully synchronized. As a consequence, joining the Eurozone seems to be premature and...

This paper studies the pros and cons of a monetary union for the ASEAN1 countries, excluding Myanmar. We estimate a stylized open-economy dynamic general equilibrium model for the ASEAN countries. Using the framework of linear quadratic differential games, we contrast the potential gains or...

The economic and monetary union was actually compulsory, despite that the Maastricht Treaty does not express as such. Moreover, specialists argue that the monetary union is equally required to be fiscal as well. And what is this? Of course, strenghtening central governance, once more against the...