In this paper, we apply the optimum currency area (OCA) criteria to assess the suitability of whether the US, Japan or China would best serve as the monetary anchor country for East Asian countries. The OCA criteria used are trade openness, business cycle synchronisation, real exchange rate...

Within currency unions, the conventional wisdom is that there should be a high degree of macroeconomic synchronicity between the constituent parts of the union. But this conjecture has never been formally tested by comparing sample of monetary unions with a control sample of countries that do...

Within currency unions, the conventional wisdom is that there should be a high degree of macroeconomic synchronicity between the constituent parts of the union. But this conjecture has never been formally tested by comparing sample of monetary unions with a control sample of countries that do...

This paper attempts to evaluate whether the set of NAFTA countries (the U.S., Canada and Mexico) should adopt the same currency. The theoretical basis for the paper is the optimal currency area theory which suggests that countries or regions that experience similar business cycles can gain...