Showing the Power of Use: The European Monetary Union

• In Event: 40860 - Section on Economic Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 8. Fiscal regimes

Abstract

The Euro as a currency has been studied through economic, cultural, and political perspectives. However, insufficient attention has been paid to the actual, social use of the currency. This paper examines attitudes towards the Euro using Eurobarometer data from 2018, as well as macroeconomic variables. Using a dialectical realist perspective, our study shows that economic, political, cultural, and social factors all affect attitudes toward the Euro. In particular, novel to this paper is the finding that the actual use of the Euro increases favorable attitudes towards it. Thus, this paper contributes to the larger literature on how economic and noneconomic forces affect monetary transactions, and in particular, it suggests how they work together, not separately to affect these outcomes.

Authors

• Rebecca Jean Emigh, University of California-Los Angeles

• Michelle Marinello, University of California-Los Angeles