The economic and monetary union vs. shifts in competitiveness of member states
The economic and monetary union vs. shifts in competitiveness of member states

Author(s): Tadeusz Kowalski, Maciej Pietrzykowski
Subject(s): Economy, EU-Accession / EU-DEvelopment, Globalization, EU-Legislation
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego w Poznaniu
Keywords: economic and monetary union;competitiveness of the EMU member states;measures of international competitiveness;
Summary/Abstract: The aim of this chapter is to assess changes in the relative competitiveness of 12 countries forming the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) between 1999–2009. Greece was the only EU country which had not yet been accepted in the EMU in 1999 and later joined the Eurozone in 2001. Despite the time difference, it was assumed that by including this economy in the analyzed EMU 12 group it would provide a more complete picture of the influence of monetary solutions and economic policies within this grouping as it relates to the competitiveness of its particular members. Section 1 is devoted to a brief presentation of assumptions and expectations regarding the EMU. Section 2 examines real effective exchange rates (REERs). Along with the standard literature, it is assumed that REERs are important summary measures of shifts in competitiveness. Section 3 is devoted to trade developments that are linked to the REERs. We present and analyze gross measures such as exports to the gross domestic product (GDP) ratio, external exports, export/import ratio, the share of EMU country exports in world exports and the role of high-tech trade. Section 4 deals with the shifts in labor force performance and Section 5 is devoted to the most comprehensive measures which are GDP and gross national income (GNI) developments.

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