1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910823061703321

Autore

Qureshi Mahvash

Titolo

What is Fuzzy About Clustering in West Africa? / / Mahvash Qureshi, Charalambos Tsangarides

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Washington, D.C. : , : International Monetary Fund, , 2006

ISBN

1-4623-8512-5

1-4527-2189-0

1-283-51816-3

1-4519-0885-7

9786613830616

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (45 p.)

Collana

IMF Working Papers

Altri autori (Persone)

TsangaridesCharalambos

Soggetti

Monetary unions - Africa, West - Econometric models

Money - Africa, West

Exports and Imports

Foreign Exchange

Macroeconomics

Financial Aspects of Economic Integration

Empirical Studies of Trade

Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles: General (includes Measurement and Data)

International economics

Currency

Foreign exchange

Economic growth

Monetary unions

Terms of trade

Exchange rates

Real exchange rates

Business cycles

Economic policy

nternational cooperation

Nigeria

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa



Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

"March 2006."

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references.

Nota di contenuto

""Contents""; ""I. INTRODUCTION""; ""II. BACKGROUND""; ""III. METHODOLOGY""; ""IV. DATA AND VARIABLES""; ""V. EMPIRICAL RESULTS""; ""VI. CONCLUSION AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS""; ""References""

Sommario/riassunto

Applying techniques of clustering analysis to a set of variables suggested by the convergence criteria and the theory of optimal currency areas, this paper looks for country homogeneities to assess membership in the existing and proposed monetary unions of the broader west African region. Our analysis reveals considerable dissimilarities in the economic characteristics of the countries in west and central Africa. In particular, the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) countries do not form a cluster with the West Africa Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) countries; and, within the WAMZ, there is a significant lack of homogeneity. Furthermore, when west and central African countries are considered together, we find significant heterogeneities within the CFA franc zone, and some interesting similarities between the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) and WAMZ countries. Overall, our findings raise some questions about the geographical boundaries of several existing and proposed monetary unions.