With the introduction of the euro much recent attention has been focused on the role of currencies and their national and international significance. Covering a time span of some two and a half millennia, the contributions within this volume consider aspects of the European experience from...

chapter 1 Introduction -- chapter 2 Characteristics of the GCC economies -- chapter 3 Is the GCC an optimal currency area? -- chapter 4 Policy prerequisites for GCC monetary union -- chapter 5 Potential costs of GCC monetary union -- chapter 6 Potential benefits of GCC monetary union -- chapter...

This dataset presents statistics on government debt defined by the Maastricht Treaty. In the Protocol on the excessive deficit procedure annexed to the Maastricht Treaty, government debt is defined as the debt of the whole general government sector: gross, consolidated and nominal value (face...

In recent years the euro area has shown less resilience to the negative and largely OECD-wide common shocks than the English-speaking countries, but most of the smaller euro area countries have fared better than the large ones. This paper reviews policy issues that are important in fostering a...