This book deals with the economic consequences of monetary integration, which has long been dominated by the Optimal Currency Area (OCA) paradigm. In this model, money is perceived as having developed from a private sector cost minimization process to facilitate transactions. Not surprisingly,...

This thesis focuses on three interlinked topics. Chapter 2 studies the determinants of sovereign CDS spreads in Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain during the recent global financial crisis and European debt crisis. Chapter 3 introduces a model on the interactions between monetary policy...