Journal of International Business and Economics

Macroeconomic Performance Before and After Euro and Results of Panel Regressions of Growth for Crisis Countries of Eurozone
Serhan Çiftçioğlu, Olga Betyak

Abstract
The paper focuses on the macroeconomic analysis of ongoing crisis in five members of Eurozone: Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, and Ireland. To this end, first we carry out a comparative analysis of selected macroeconomic indicators (such as growth rate of GDP, unemployment rate, investment and saving rates, etc.) both between countries for the sample period (1986-2010) and also between two sub-periods (pre-Euro(1986-1999) and post-Euro(2000-2010) periods) for each country. Then we present and discuss results of panel regressions of economic growth based on ‘fixed effects’ model: Key finding is that inflation and,investment and saving rates are critical for economic growth. However trade openness seems to be uncorrelated with economic growth raising questions about the expected positive effects of the use of common currency (Euro) on economic growth through accelerated integration of the individual economies of Euro Zone.

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