The Economics of Monetary Integration

This expositive textbook on monetary integration looks at the economic costs and benefits of such a union in Europe. The author examines such topical issues as whether there is a good economic case for countries to have separate currencies, and whether a nation increases its welfare when it abolishes its national currency and adopts a currency of a wider area. These questions lead to others concerning the size of an optimal monetary area - should this include the EC, the whole of Europe or the whole world? The first part of the book focuses on complete monetary unions in which a common currency is substituted for national currencies. The second part looks at incomplete monetary unions in which national monetary authorities maintain their national currencies but agree to fix their exchange rates. This leads to an analysis of the European Monetary System and also examines the issues relating to the transition to a full monetary system.