Regional Integration in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU): Complementarity or Competition?

This paper analyzes and characterizes the nature of the interactions between countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) over the period 1995–2015. The analysis uses sigma-convergence on the one hand and the Dendrinos-Sonis spatial competition model estimated by the SUR method on the other hand. The results show a lack of convergence of living standards and support the idea of income polarization in space; these results also support the idea of a very poorly integrated region with relatively competitive interrelationships. The paper suggests the acceleration of regional integration in the WAEMU region combined with the implementation of inclusive integration policies that promote each member’s comparative advantage.

OCA INDEX AS INDICATOR OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC'S PREPAREDNESS TO JOIN THE EUROPEAN MONETARY UNION

The optimum currency area (OCA) theory evaluates the currency area as optimum at a time when the participating countries are not at risk of macroeconomic instability due to the existence of a common currency. The OCA index is a tool used to comprehensively assess the costs and benefits of a candidate for joining a monetary union. It is constructed as a bilateral index assessing the appropriateness of introducing the single currency in two countries. The article presents the OCA index quantified for the Czech Republic in relation to Germany, which is considered to be the core of the European Monetary Union. Since the OCA index needs to be interpreted in a temporal or spatial comparison, the calculation of the OCA index was also performed for other countries of the Visegrad Group (V4) and furthermore for Austria and Portugal, using data from the period of 2007–2019. The results of the OCA index show a high degree of variability in the Czech Republic in the observed period. While in the first half of the period under review, the Czech Republic achieved the best results within the assessed economies and the Czech Republic's level of preparedness for the common currency with Germany was higher than in the case of Austria, it fell sharply after 2012. The reason can be seen, among other things, in the higher growth rate of the Czech economy than in the euro area. Although the OCA index is an indicator assessing the preparedness of an economy to join a monetary union, it cannot be the only indicator. Other important criteria include, for example, labour mobility, price and wage flexibility, fiscal integration and more. Although the Czech Republic is approaching the euro area average in all key indicators, the gap from it remains significant for most indicators and thus continues to be a factor against the adoption of the euro in the coming years.

Financial Integration in the Context of the European Union

As the world continues to see various facets of financial integration, the topic has sparked a great deal of discussions among policymakers and economists. The article analyzes benefits and risks of financial integration in the context of the European Union, which has facilitated global financial integration immensely by creating common currency among European Monetary Union countries and harmonizing regulations across the region. Upon examining main pros and cons of financial integration in detail, I conclude that financial integration can be beneficial in the longrun if corrective and preventive measures are enforced to curtail risks and threats it poses.

11. The institutions of Economic and Monetary Union:

Since 1999, a subset of EU member states—known collectively as the euro area—has delegated exclusive competence for monetary policy to the European Central Bank (ECB), while giving limited powers to the European Commission, ECOFIN, and the Eurogroup in other areas of economic policy. The euro crisis provided the first major test of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), as a sovereign debt crisis spread between member states and threatened to tear the single currency apart. The ECB and two new institutions—the European Stability Mechanism and Euro Summit—helped to keep the euro area together but at significant economic and political cost. EU institutions were better prepared for the initial economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the crisis still produced important institutional changes. The COVID-19 recovery fund Next Generation EU gives the Commission and Council a major new role in economic policy, albeit a temporary one for now. The EMU illustrates three key dimensions of EU institutional politics: the tension between intergovernmental versus supranational institutions, leaders versus followers, and legitimacy versus contestation. It also reveals the explanatory power of new institutionalism among other theoretical perspectives.

Impact of Government Spending In Social Sectors on Economic Growth: A Case Study of West African Economic and Monetary Union Countries

This study aims to investigate the short-run and long-run effects of government’s social expenditure proxies, namely education, and health spending on economic growth during the period 1985 - 2019 in West African Economic and Monetary Union. Using Auto Regressive Distributed Lag model (ARDL) based on panel data, the results of the study reveal that in short-run, government spending in social sectors has no significant impact on economic growth but in long-run the effects of education and health expenditures on the economic growth are significantly positive.

Analysis of currency integration indicators in the Eurasian Economic Union

For the world economy, the integration process is one of the most widespread and global. The Eurasian Economic Union is a typical example of bringing countries together to achieve shared goals and to face diverse challenges successfully by implementing coordinated policies and harmonizing the regulatory framework. The formation of a monetary union will be the next stage of integration. The EAEU member States need to achieve a certain level of economic convergence for that purpose. Thus, the main aim of this research article is to analyze some of the economic indicators of the EAEU in order to identify common problems, the solution of which will be necessary for the successful formation and functioning of the monetary union. The authors have studied such indicators as GDP volumes and inflation levels, as well as the dynamics of changes in exchange rates and the level of mutual direct investment in terms of sigma convergence. The authors have also used methods of graphical representation of the scientific results. The reports of the Eurasian Economic Commission and the Central Banks of the EAEU Member States were used as the main sources of statistical data.