L'INTÉGRATION MONÉTAIRE ASIATIQUE : DOLLARISATION, MONNAIE COMMUNE OU SIMPLE COOPÉRATION MONÉTAIRE ?

This article presents a survey of the monetary integration debate in East Asia with a special emphasis on the arguments developed by Asian economists themselves. It focuses mainly on the existence of an optimal monetary zone between various sets of East Asian countries. In a first part, we discuss critically this theory and show that there is no consensus on the optimal zone. In a second part we present the debate on the possible common currencies if a monetary integration was decided or even a monetary union created. The possible candidates are the US dollar, the Japanese Yen, the Chinese Yuan, a basket currency, a parallel currency, an Asian Currency Unit among others. In conclusion, we recall that the decision is above all political.