ABSTRACT

A number of studies have concluded that, contrary to expectations, European monetary union has not reduced income disparities among the 12 Western European member countries. In fact, incomes per capita between Southern and Northern Eurozone members have diverged since the Eurozone was created, in contrast to earlier trends which had seen rapid convergence in living standards across Western Europe. The paper revisits this issue and investigates whether something similar occurred in the five Eastern European countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia) which joined the Eurozone between 2007 and 2015. The conclusion is that, despite similarities with Southern Europe in some areas, overall developments in Eastern Europe were different and led to convergence rather than divergence. Important reasons for this were Eastern Europe's relatively high levels of institutional quality, a politically motivated determination to anchor these countries to the West and, possibly, the legacy of pre-war history.

摘要

许多研究得出的结论是，与预期相反，欧洲货币联盟并没有缩小12个西欧成员国之间的收入差距。实际上，自欧元区成立以来，南部和北部欧元区成员国之间的人均收入存在差异，这与早先的趋势形成了鲜明对比，西欧的生活水平已迅速趋同。本文回顾了这个问题，并调查了在2007年至2015年加入欧元区的五个东欧国家（爱沙尼亚，拉脱维亚，立陶宛，斯洛伐克和斯洛文尼亚）是否发生了类似情况。结论是，尽管在某些地区与南欧存在相似之处，东欧的整体发展是不同的，并导致趋同而非分歧。重要的原因是东欧