ABSTRACT
The German unification experience is useful to study in regard to EMU for many reasons. Firstly, it is an example of a currency union which was able to take place in almost ideal circumstances. Though there was little in the way of economic convergence, the process had wide popular support, and labour mobility was expected to be high. Large amounts of government investment and flows of funds were also made available for East Germany, with little opposition from the West German population. Even given this beneficial environment, large regional disparities still exist between East and West, in some cases exacerbated by inappropriate policies.
