Why Does Euro’s Survival Matter? Financial Integration in East Asia and European Union

A breakup of Euro Zone appeared likely in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), while EU has long been model regional integration to East Asia. Recognizing different political-economic contexts between East Asia and EU,what can we learn from the experiences of Euro Zone so far? This paper tries to answer the question by examining regional financial integration in two regions in view of international macroeconomics. Financial globalization since the 1990s plays the key role there. We can summarize our observations as follows:East Asia’s fundamental strength shown throughout GFC implies weak motivation to promote further regional financial integration toward a monetary/fiscal union as EU. The global sudden stop of capital inflow by GFC seriously damaged vulnerable links in Euro Zone, although crisis-driven policy innovations seem to strengthen its macro-financial policy framework. As to the future role of Euro Zone, at issue is the volatility intrinsic to the global financial market, which would aggravate the asymmetry across currencies, potentially harming resource allocation and growth. Post-Bretton Woods flexible exchange rates could not wipe away, but magnify this asymmetry (i.e. US dollar dominance). The Euro and Euro Zone could challenge this fundamental flaw of the present international monetary system.