The euro area ten years after its creation: (Divergent) competitiveness and the optimum currency area theory

Panoeconomicus

关键词: optimum currency area;    euro area;    economic and monetary union(EMU);    competitiveness;   

DOI  :  10.2298/PAN1105605R

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

As the euro is on its second decade, the European sovereign debt crisis andthe ever more evident disparities in competitiveness among member states areprompting many to question whether monetary union is bringing more benefitsthan costs. The optimum currency area (OCA) theory provides a framework withseveral criteria for such analysis. In such context, we start by adescriptive analysis of the first twelve euro countries under six criteria,leading to a mixed conclusion on whether the EMU is closer or farther tofulfil them. Then we assess the impact of five OCA criteria on countries’relative competitiveness. Differences in the growth of unit labour costs,the dissimilarity of trade and the differences in output growth were foundto be the most significant. This way, we identify some causes of thedivergent competitiveness between some EMU countries that contributed toweaker economic growth in some of them.

【 授权许可】

Unknown