Volume 29, Issue 2 pp. 2415-2427
RESEARCH ARTICLE

A study on a new fiscal risk-sharing system to make Eurozone an OCA

Wi-Dae Kim

Corresponding Author

Wi-Dae Kim

Korea Center for International Finance, Seoul, South Korea

Correspondence

Wi-Dae Kim, Korea Center for International Finance, 1502-ho 115-dong, Toegye-ro 90-gil 74, Seoul 04582, South Korea.

Email: [email protected]

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First published: 05 February 2023

The author is currently working for Korea Center for International Finance (KCIF), Seoul. The longer version of this article was originally presented for doctoral dissertation approved by Korea University in August 2021, with same title. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Abstract

This article seeks to add a new element to the 5-decade debate over the theory of Optimal Currency Area. In the euro area, the accumulation of economic imbalances caused by the loss of the automatic adjustment functions of the exchange rate have served as a structural background to limit its self-sustaining resilience during financial shocks. To enhance the stability of Optimal Currency Area (OCA) through the revitalization of those functions, this article argues that if the euro area had adopted some form of fiscal risk-sharing mechanisms, which could have generated a similar economic effect as if they had maintained a flexible F/X system as that which had existed in pre-euro days, the fiscal crisis hypothetically could have been more easily overcome within a shorter period with less financial support. The result suggests that if ‘Adjustment Fund for Foreign Exchange rate Loss (AFFEL)’, originally devised within these pages, had operated, the interest rates in crisis-hit members could have been significantly lower than actual levels during the crisis, while safely maintaining the euro system.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT

The author has no conflict of interest and does not receive any financial support for this study.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available via Eurostat.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.