Chapter 3 Optimum Currency Areas: U.S. Dollar, Euro, and Asian Money

Abstract

Robert Mundell is the father of the concept of optimum currency area (Mundell, 1961) and he has since then taught us a great deal more about it (Mundell, 1970, 1999, 2003). President Kennedy reminded his fellow countrymen that it is the strength of the US dollar, bolstered by the strength of the US economy, not the US military arsenal, which contributes to the international leadership of the USA. Saburo Okita sought to explain policy approaches in the framework of economic regional communities in the context of global economic cooperation, and thus responded to the question if we will have one world or several (Okita, 1989, 1994). Indeed, he pioneered the concept of multiple currency areas.

Citation

Dutta, M. (2009), "Chapter 3 Optimum Currency Areas: U.S. Dollar, Euro, and Asian Money", Dutta, M. (Ed.) The Asian Economy and Asian Money (Contributions to Economic Analysis, Vol. 287), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 93-133. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0573-8555(2009)0000287007