Monetary decentralization in the United States: is there a case for multiple currencies?

Benjamin Chupp

Journal of Economic Studies, 2016, vol. 43, issue 4, 535-548

Abstract: Purpose - When sectoral shocks hit a large, regionally heterogeneous economy, it is likely that regions with sectoral specialization will be affected in different ways. In these cases, it might be optimal for the country to decentralize the currency into a number of regional currencies, thus allowing for differentiated monetary policy. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach - The author explicates the potential benefits and costs to decentralization. The author also highlights characteristics that should be satisfied in order to consider multiple currencies. This paper uses a theoretical and empirical model to test if the USA contains regional optimal currency areas. The author tests five potential divisions of the states into monetary subunions. Findings - One of these divisions is proven to result in higher welfare (a 2 percent increase) than the status quo national monetary union. Thus, the USA is not an optimal currency area, and monetary decentralization could be a feasible and welfare-improving option for future policy. Originality/value - There have been no previous studies of monetary divisions. Given the importance of fiscal decentralization, it is important to also understand the implications of monetary decentralization.

Keywords: Decentralization; Macroeconomics; Monetary union; Optimal currency areas; H77; E52; F33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:jespps:v:43:y:2016:i:4:p:535-548

DOI: 10.1108/JES-01-2015-0011

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Economic Studies is currently edited by Prof Mohsen Bahmani-Oskooee

More articles in Journal of Economic Studies from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().