The euro’s success has piqued the world’s interest in currency unions. The Gulf Cooperation Council is planning to establish one by 2010, the South African Development Community by 2018 and plans for an Asian currency union have circulated for years. Peter Kenen and Ellen Meade have a new book that surveys the prospects for regional monetary integration around the globe.1All this is about joining. What about quitting? Barry Eichengreen recently argued on Vox that euro adoption is irreversible since trying to quit would trigger ‘the mother of all financial crises’ in the leaver. But the Euro area is not the only currency union in the world. Since the end of the Second World War, 69 countries, territories, or other entities have left currency unions; 61 have remained continuously within currency unions. Does history have any lessons regarding potential departures from currency unions?
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