After all, monetary policy can be focused on price stability, but, in the face of an asymmetric shock, the nominal exchange rate may change so that adjustment is facilitated. How important, then, is the exchange-rate instrument in dealing with asymmetries among the countries participating in the euro area? II.
Asymmetric shocks and the loss of the exchange rate as a policy instrument: the preconditions for monetary union reassessed  The early literature on optimum currency areas included a search for mechanisms that could replace the exchange rate or compensate for its absence.