Har en gemensam valuta resulterat i en minskad prisspridning? : En jämförande studie på priskonvergens inom euroländer i förhållande till övriga EU länder

In 1993 the internal market within the European Union was formed and ensured free movement of goods, services, capital and people. This led to the removal of trade barriers between members of the European Union. When opening up for competition, price differences between countries decreased and more jobs were created. A single currency was introduced by eleven countries in 1999 with the goal of reducing transaction costs, eliminating exchange rate risk and to further simplify trade. In 2001 Greece joined the collaboration and introduced the euro. With a single currency, price differences are expected to decrease. The aim of this study is to investigate whether a common currency has had a significant effect on reducing price dispersion or not. Two types of convergence are tested, beta and sigma convergence. 21 different product groups are included in this study and are sorted after the speed of convergence. All of the 27 EU member states are included and divided into two groups, one euro group and one non-euro group. We also examine if differences in productivity can explain price convergence. The results indicate that the introduction of a common currency did not decrease price dispersion within the majority of product groups. For the product groups in which price convergence are evident, only one product group within the euro countries and one product group within the non-euro countries have proven to be significantly positive in terms of differences in productivity