A Long Term Perspective on the Euro

Bankarstvo, 2019

In January 1999, the euro was introduced as the common currency of the eurozone member states, which is used today by more than 340 million Europeans. By introducing the common currency, a monetary union has been created, which in its twenty years of existence has had its ups and downs. The biggest challenge so far has been the global financial crisis of 2008, with which most of the eurozone countries have successfully fought. Since its introduction, the euro has become the second most important currency, after the US dollar, in the structure of international reserves, contributing to the reduction of transaction costs in trade through the creation of a single market, but also facilitated the convergence of monetary policies of eurozone member countries. In the first twenty years of its existence, the euro has proven to be a relatively stable currency in which its holders have confidence. The European Central Bank, together with the central banks of the eurozone member countries, has created a monetary system that has confidence in the common currency by preserving its value and continuing work to achieve and ensure the eurozone's financial and price stability.

2009

Our survey of about 190 publications shows (a) that academic economists concentrated on the question “Is the EMU a good or bad thing?”, usually adopting the paradigm of optimum currency areas as their main analytical vehicle, (b) that they displayed considerable scepticism ...

The Euro and the German Veto, Roland Vaubel 82-90 Outliers and the Halloween Effect: Comment on Maberly and Pierce, H. Douglas Witte 91-98

2010

On the whole, the euro has, thus far, gone much better than many U.S. economists had predicted. We survey how U.S. economists viewed European monetary unification from the publication of the Delors Report in 1989 to the introduction of euro notes and coins in January 2002. U.S. academic economists concentrated on whether a single currency was a good or bad

Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2006

On 16 and 17 June 2005, the ECB has hosted a Conference on "What Effects is EMU Having on the Euro Area and its Member Countries?" One and a half decade after the start of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and more than six years after the launch of the euro, the aim of the conference was to assess what can be learned about the impact of economic and monetary integration and how it has benefited the euro area and its member countries. The conference brought together academics, central bankers and policy makers to discuss the existing empirical evidence on changes brought about, either directly or indirectly, by EMU and, in particular, the introduction of the euro in five main areas: Area 1. Trade integration; Area 2. Structural reforms in product and labour markets; Area 3. Financial integration; Area 4. Business cycles synchronisation and economic specialisation; and Area 5. Inflation persistence and inflation differentials. Lead presenters for each of the aforementioned areas had been asked to put together-and interpret-all the available information, flag any open questions, and also discuss the implications in their respective field of expertise. With the benefit of hindsight, lead presenters and discussants have also addressed some initial presumptions with the evidence that has accumulated thus far. In order to exchange information and ideas on the above effects, and increase mutual awareness of ongoing work in the diverse areas, we deemed it useful to issue the five leading presentations, together with the accompanying discussions, in the ECB Working Paper Series.

2000

We identify incentives generated by the Bretton Woods II system that may have contributed to the sub-prime liquidity crisis now working its way through the international monetary system. We then evaluate the persistent conjecture that the liquidity crisis is or will become a balance of payments crisis for the United States. Given that it happens, the additional costs associated with a sudden stop of net capital flows to the United States could be quite substantial. But we observe that emerging market governments have continued to acquire US assets even as yields have fallen, and the incentives for continuing to do so remain strong. Moreover, the Bretton Woods II system, which has clearly been the most resilient of the forces driving current markets, continues to generate low real interest rates in industrial countries and growth in emerging markets that will help limit the damage from the liquidity crisis. Copyright © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

2009

FOCUS ON EUROPEAN ECONOMIC INTEGRATION Q4/09 This year’s Conference on European Economic Integration (CEEI) of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) was dedicated to the theme “The Euro’s Contribution to Economic Stability in CESEE” and took place in Vienna on November 16 and 17, 2009. The central issue was whether the euro has become an attractive anchor of financial and economic stability in the countries of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESEE), in particular for those countries that have not yet introduced the euro. More than 300 participants from over 30 countries followed the lively discussions of high-profile representatives of central banks, international organizations and academia. In his opening speech, Ewald Nowotny, Governor of the OeNB and Member of the Governing Council of the ECB, recalled the stabilizing effects of the euro. While failing to prevent the build-up of internal and external imbalances, the common currency had indeed cushioned the effects of...