Do Currency Unions Deliver More Economic Integration than Fixed Exchange Rates? Evidence from the Franc Zone and the ECCU

In this article we develop a model to identify determinants of macroeconomic integration in the African Franc Zone and in Dollar-pegging Caribbean countries (including members of the East Caribbean Currency Union). These two groups of countries each comprise states using several different local currencies: on the one hand the UEMOA CFA Franc and the CEMAC CFA Franc (both pegged to the Euro), on the other the ECCU Dollar and other national Dollar-pegged currencies. The purpose of the analysis is to distinguish the effect of monetary union on macroeconomic integration from the effect of pegging to a common OECD currency.