Gaining global clout through monetary union: Evidence from East Africa

Abstract

Gaining international clout is an important motivation in pursuing monetary integration, as small country merge into a larger entity that can project more global power. We provide evidence to that effect using survey data from Kenya pertaining to public support for the proposed East African Monetary Union. We show that Kenyans prefer a larger union with more members for the purpose of gaining global clout. However, not all potential member countries are equally welcomed. Larger and more stable countries are favored over fragile states.