THE APPLICATION OF OPTIMUM CURRENCY AREA CRITERIA TO CROATIA

This paper investigates if Croatia would benefit from the introduction of euro. Croatia has been gravitating towards Europe for decades, especially towards Germany. The same period, until the introduction of stabilization program in late 1993, was characterized by hyperinflation which caused loosing the trust in domestic currency. Also, Croatia is a small country in territory and in economic power, so one could argue that loosing monetary independence would not hurt it. But what if Croatia does not have synchronized business cycle with the euro area? Then a single monetary policy would not be of benefit to it and Croatia is too small country to have powerful voice in ECB. The theory of optimum currency areas can help to find the answer to those concerns.