However, by adopting the euro early, a country forgoes the flexibility of altering its exchange rate to absorb economic shocks.

ECONOMIST: Some EU candidates favour an early move to the euro

It is not just how banks manage their own exposures to interest rate movements, currency shocks and market swoons, but increasingly, it is a business in and of itself.

FORBES: Goldman Leads The Risk Parade

In the emerging-markets crisis that currently threatens the world economy, exchange-rate movements have not been absorbers of shocks but amplifiers and even creators of them.

ECONOMIST: One world, one money