Why Do Different Countries Use Different Currencies?
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Summary:
During long periods of history, countries have pegged their currencies to an international standard (such as gold or the U.S. dollar), severely restricting their ability to create money and affect output, prices, or government revenue. Nevertheless, countries generally have maintained their own currencies. The paper presents a model where agents have heterogeneous preferences—that are private information—over goods of different national origin. In this environment, it may be optimal for countries to have different currencies; we also identify conditions where separate national currencies do not expand the set of optimal allocations. Implications for a currency union in Europe are discussed.
Series:
Working Paper No. 1998/017
Subject:
Conventional peg Currencies Dollarization Economic integration Environment Foreign exchange Monetary policy Monetary unions Money
English
Publication Date:
February 1, 1998
ISBN/ISSN:
9781451923087/1018-5941
Stock No:
WPIEA0171998
Pages:
22
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