Date: 2011
Type: Other
Optimal Currency Area Revisited
EUI RSCAS DL, 2011/01, Pierre Werner Chair Programme on Monetary Union
MERSCH, Yves, Optimal Currency Area Revisited, EUI RSCAS DL, 2011/01, Pierre Werner Chair Programme on Monetary Union - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/19495
Retrieved from Cadmus, EUI Research Repository
Several euro area member states are under increased market scrutiny although public finances in the euro area as a bloc are in a much better shape than in the US or Japan. The main reason is that the euro area is an alliance of sovereign countries with most of the relevant political decisions - including public finance - being taken by national governments whereas the other major currencies are sovereign states with central governments and budgets. In the absence of a central government and an internal nominal exchange rate, effective rules are required to safeguard the stability of a currency area. The current crisis has disclosed the weaknesses of the institutional set up of the euro area. Europe has already undertaken major steps to tackle these. Challenges remain, however, to further proceed in the direction of an Optimum Currency Area.
Additional information:
Document is based on a distinguished lecture held in Florence on 26 October 2011 by Yves Mersch, Governor of the Banque centrale du Luxembourg and Member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank
Cadmus permanent link: https://hdl.handle.net/1814/19495
ISSN: 1830-155X
Series/Number: EUI RSCAS DL; 2011/01; Pierre Werner Chair Programme on Monetary Union