Monetary unions are becoming more common in the world today. They are being used to create open markets and strong economy blocks. A monetary union is a group of countries sharing a common currency. More often than not, the countries share geographical boundaries and also have tight trade and financial relationships. The countries stop using their individual currencies and adopt a common currency for use. The most recent monetary union is the European Monetary Union (EMU). The following paper will give an overhaul on monetary unions and will centralize more on the EMU.
There are numerous advantages and disadvantages associated with a country maintaining its currency. The advantages are that a country is more able to maintain stability in the exchange rate as an individual as opposed to a union, a union has more rigid policies than an individual country which is unsought for, by countries, there is also loss of sovereignty of a country once it joins a monetary union, a country is also more likely to suffer economic problems in instances when a member country of a union is suffering from inflation, hence a country’s economic and currency stability is affected by the stability of the economies of member countries.
The disadvantages of a country joining a monetary union are that; a country incurs high transaction costs when doing business since it has to change its currency into the currency of the business partner, a country is not able to compare prices effectively with other countries since it does not share a common currency with them. In instances where there is a single market, the country suffers more since it trades with a different currency in a market where trade is being carried out in a common currency.
The country also experiences uncertainties caused by exchange rate fluctuations. A country which uses its own currency stands to lose in the increased level of trade caused by a common currency. The European Monetary Union came to be in the year 1994 after the signing of the Maastricht treaty, but it was not until 2002 that the common currency, Euro went into circulation. The treaty committed and bound the countries who were involved in a common currency. The EMU uses the Euro as the common currency. The currency has gained value over the years and it is now one of the top currencies of the world. At the launch of the Euro, it only covered 12 nations out of the 15 nations in the European Union. However, up to today, 17 countries use the euro as their currency. The countries are Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Portugal, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Vatican city. Lithonia and Latvia are in the process of transforming themselves into euro zones. The special drawing rights allow for countries to exchange their rights with another country that also has rights for a currency that can be freely transferred in this case the euro. The euro has benefited the European countries using it. It has made tremendous changes in trade by reducing transaction costs. This is because currency exchange fees are waived off since no such exchange is needed. Comparison of prices of commodities throughout the region is now easier hence leading to healthy competition. The euro has also increased instability hence it has stimulated growth in the countries using it. The stable environment is also conducive for investment opportunities.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the proposed monetary union of North America is likely to bring more benefits to the states joining it. Increased trade, ease of comparison of prices, the stability of the currency and block leading to more investments, wavering off of exchange fees which are incurred when transacting and other indirect benefits brought about by above factors are among the major advantages that the countries would get when they adopt the Amero. The major disadvantage of the union would be a loss of sovereignty of countries which for now enjoy being in the first world. All the same, the idea of forming the union is great and is highly welcome since it would bring more benefit to the member countries.
