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EMU and accession countries: Fuzzy cluster analysis of membership
Author(s) -
Boreiko Dmitri
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
international journal of finance and economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.505
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1099-1158
pISSN - 1076-9307
DOI - 10.1002/ijfe.216
Subject(s) - accession , convergence (economics) , economics , currency , fuzzy logic , cluster analysis , cluster (spacecraft) , international economics , treaty , econometrics , macroeconomics , mathematics , computer science , statistics , european union , political science , law , programming language , artificial intelligence
This paper estimates the readiness of the accession countries of Central and Eastern Europe for EMU or unilateral euroization using a fuzzy clustering algorithm. The variables to which the algorithm is applied are suggested alternately by the criteria in the Maastricht Treaty (nominal convergence) and by Optimum Currency Area theory (real convergence). The algorithm reveals that Estonia and Slovenia are the leaders in both nominal and real convergence, whereas the other countries from the 1998 accession wave have achieved substantial results only in real convergence. Moreover, Poland is excluded from the leading group in the most recent years due to its worsened economic performance. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.