Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the proposed eco currency union has sufficient business cycle synchronization among its members to avoid problems such as those experienced in the last several years by countries in the eurozone. This monetary union would potentially...

The member countries of the International Monetary Fund collaborate to try to assure orderly exchange arrangements and promote a stable system of exchange rates, recognizing that the essential purpose of the international monetary system is to facilitate the exchange of goods, services, and...

Risk-sharing shall allow asymmetric shocks smoothing into a monetary union. Three adjustment channels could play: public transfers, credits, financial incomes between regions/countries. The literature underlines the actual weakness of this mechanism in Europe whereas it tends generally to...

Using a consistent dataset and methodology for all eight member countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) from 1994 to 2009, this paper provides evidence of the two major channels for real effects of inflation: inflation uncertainty and relative price variability. In line...

This paper contributes to the discussion on the long term sustainability of the embryonic second monetary union in Africa, the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ). We analyse the level of economic and monetary integration in West Africa by analysing the degree of growth cycle synchronisation...

This article was originally presented as the Homer Jones Memorial Lecture, organized by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, April 13, 2011.