LEGAL AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF EUROZONE COUNTRIES IN THE WAKE OF HIGH INFLATION RATES: MULTIVARIATE METHOD APPROACH.

Economic convergence and divergence are important topics in economics and finance because they offer insights into how economies develop and grow over time and can offer policymakers better understanding of underlying factors. The main research question of this paper is whether there is clear trend of convergence and divergence tendencies for most Eurozone countries. Variables used in this paper are Maastricht convergence criteria variables, so firstly we examine these criteria as an important legal framework that help ensure the stability and sustainability of the Eurozone. Secondly, we examine convergence and stability in 18 Eurozone countries from 2015-2022 by analysing changes in cluster memberships and then by analysing trends of convergence and divergence tendencies. Cluster analysis with Ward method is used based on Squared Euclidean distance metric. The fact that are no perfect clustering results, our results point out that there are some changes in the members of the groups, but there are 4 clusters in all years. From 2015 to 2022, based on Squared Euclidean distance metric, convergence tendencies can be seen for Germany, Greece, Spain and Slovenia and divergence for Ireland. Based on our research question, the results show that there is no clear trend towards convergence or divergence for most Eurozone countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]