The Emergence of the Euro as an International Currency

No 6424, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: The European Union will enter Stage Three of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in 1999. The development of euro financial markets and thickness externalities in the use of the euro as a means of payment will be the major factors determining the importance of the euro as an international currency. As euro securities markets become deeper and more liquid and transactions costs fall, euro assets will become more attractive, and the use of the euro as a vehicle currency will expand; the two effects interact, as we demonstrate. We use a three-region world model as a framework for alternative steady-state scenarios. With forex and securities market data, we assess the plausibility of those scenarios and the implications for economic efficiency (welfare). We find that the euro may take on some of the current roles of the dollar. The welfare analysis reveals potential quantitatively significant benefits for the euro area, at the cost of the US and (to a lesser degree) Japan.

JEL-codes: F3 F4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1998-02
Note: IFM
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (161)

Published as Economic Policy, Vol. 26, no. 2 (April 1998): 307-332.

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Related works:
Journal Article: The emergence of the euro as an international currency (1998)
Working Paper: The Emergence of the Euro as an International Currency (1998)
Working Paper: The Emergence of the Euro as an International Currency (1997)
Working Paper: The Emergence of the Euro as an International Currency (1997)
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