The Conditions for Establishing a Regional Central Bank in East Asia.

The question of this paper is, will it be possible for other regions to achieve a full monetary integration, like the EU did, by introducing a single common regional currency? What factors will shape the future of East Asian currency integration? The major issue discussed in this paper is whether the creation of an East Asian Central Bank (EACB) as an institution for a single currency management is possible and what are the necessary conditions to achieve this goal. This article applies a constructivist approach to regional monetary integration. I argue that sharing a common knowledge about monetary cooperation is a necessary condition for the achievement of monetary integration. In particular, the role of the committee of governor of national central banks is especially important. The task of this independent committee is to offer a plan of regional monetary policy. A region will achieve a high level of international monetary cooperation when a group of specialists working on monetary policy propose a blueprint of monetary integration and several ministers in the region agree with the plan. Regional members? attitude toward monetary integration is defined by the restricting structure on the regional level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]