The Periphery of the Euro
The aim of the studies collected here is to analyze a specific set of macroeconomic policies - namely, monetary and exchange rate policies - in selected Eastern European countries not covered (yet?) by the EU Enlargement process. Namely, the book has studies on the major CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States, the loose successor of the Soviet Union, bar the Baltic Republics) countries, but several of the studies use the new Eastern European EU member countries as a benchmark to study the CIS countries. Therefore, we analyze here current and prospective monetary and exchange rate policy options for them (for instance, the implications of the monetary (re)unification of Belarus and Russia, the viability of a floating cum inflation targeting in Russia and Ukraine). We also analyze the applicability of the EU monetary integration experience for them and, in an opposite direction, the prospects of a monetary (re)unification around the Russian Federation. To our knowledge, this is truly the first set of studies to formally deal with most of these questions.