What has the EURO done for the EU?

Contents 1.Introduction 2.Theory of Monetary Integration 3.Europe as an Optimal Currency Area 3.1 Factor Mobility 3.2 Volume of Trade 3.3 Degree of Synchronisation of Business Cycles 3.4 Fiscal Transfers 4.Positive Effects of the euro 4.1 Goods and Financial Markets 4.1.1 Business Confidence 4.1.2 Reduced Costs and Downward Pressure on Prices 4.1.3 Stability 4.1.4 Integration of Financial Markets 4.2 Macroeconomic Effects 4.2.1 Price Stability 4.2.2 Low Interest Rates 4.2.3 Resistance to external Shocks 4.3 Global Effects 4.4 Societal Effects 4.4.1 Convenience 4.4.2 Wide Acceptance of Currency 5.Negative Effects of the euro 5.1 No Control …

…Dollar and the Euro, June 02, 2003 [online] Accessed on 19 March 2005: http://www.theglobalist.com/DBWeb/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=3193 Vessela Hristova, Pros and Cons, [online] Accessed on 19 March 2005: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~vshristo/pro_and_cones.htm Hazel Henderson Iraq, the Dollar and the Euro, June 02, 2003 [online] Accessed on 19 March 2005: http://www.theglobalist.com/DBWeb/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=3193 Germany seeks workers' rights delay, 18 Dec 2000, [online], Accessed on 19 March 2005: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1076473.stm