Currency union in Mercosul

ABSTRACT Nowadays, influenced by the European experience, several Brazilian economists have given special attention to the possibility of a currency union among the countries of Mercosur. This paper makes a brief analysis of the main theoretical aspects that represent the basis for the proposition of a currency area. Besides this, the paper shows two distinct views in the national literature concerning the hypothesis of the creation of a currency area for the Mercosur. The main conclusion of this article is that the proposal mentioned above is not feasible, because the costs of macroeconomic coordination are too high.

摘要：受欧洲一体化经验的影响，当前多位巴西经济学家已重点关注南方共同市场（Mercosur）成员国组建货币联盟（currency union）的可能性。本文简要剖析了支撑货币区（currency area）提议的核心理论维度。此外，本文梳理了巴西国内学术文献中针对南方共同市场组建货币区这一假说的两种截然不同的观点。本文的核心结论为：前述提议不具备可行性，究其原因在于宏观经济协调的成本过高。