Krugman’s argument that the Eurozone is not an optimum currency area could easily be applied to the US

In an April 2016 conference, the distinguished economist Paul Krugman repeated the oft-heard critique that the eurozone is not an optimal currency area. Waltraud Schelkle disagrees with this characterisation, and argues that no country or group of countries represents an optimal currency area – one region or country always loses out from a single monetary policy. But countries can use fiscal, social and regulatory policies to overcome these difficulties. When Americans criticise the eurozone’s currency policies, she writes, they are forgetting the US dollar’s shaky start and the adjustments which had to be made to the financial system in the 19th century.

• Primary Source

Wikipedia: Optimum currency area https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimum_currency_area

Social Europe, 28.05.18: The Post-Crisis EMU: A True OCA? https://www.socialeurope.eu/the-post-crisis-emu-a-true-oca

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