Since growth and employment are the economic variables dominating the public debate in an era of low inflation, it is no surprise that, that the euro has become a matter of increasing political controversy despite inconclusive evidence on its overall impact.

This paper describes and analyses the evolution of euro area currency in circulation in the last years and especially in the run up to the cash change-over. In particular, it revisits the possible effect of the latter on the euro/dollar-exchange rate, which has been emphasised recently in the...

This paper reviews the economic, monetary and financial relations between the EU and the euro area and a set of countries in a broad set of neighbouring regions. The 80 or so countries are mostly classified as transition, emerging or developing economies and belong to four main regions: the...

Official and unilateral dollarisation/euroisation has become a common policy advice for emerging market economies. Against this background, the paper provides a comprehensive review of all the main cases of dollarisation/euroisation, analysing motives, features and policy implications of this...

This paper reviews selected aspects of economic relations between the EU and Russia, focusing on the impact that the last two waves of EU enlargement have had on Russia, as well as the role of the euro in Russia. The analysis suggests that if EU enlargement has had any diversion effects on trade...

Euroisation/dollarisation - the replacement of the domestic currency by a foreign currency, mostly the US dollar or the euro - has regained significant popularity in recent years, as it is generally regarded as a viable "corner solution" for exchange rate regimes. Part of its attractiveness is...