EUROPROJECT U.I.P.E.C. SPAIN University of Valencia Unit of Research in Consumer and Economic Psychology EUROPEAN UNION PROJECT THE INTRODUCTION OF THE NEW COIN, THE “EURO” SPANISH ATTITUDES TOWARD “EURO”

A Research Project Among 15 Countries Universities from all members of the European Union participated in this project. This project was supported by the European Union in order to obtain information from citizens regarding attitudes toward the new currency.

Some information….. On January 1st, 1999: EU introduced the Euro (transactions, public debt and so on) but not the coin or notesOn January 1st, 1999: EU introduced the Euro (transactions, public debt and so on) but not the coin or notes Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, and Finland. On January 1st, 2002: EU will introduce the coin to the population (6 month later, the national currency will be out of the market)

The Euro coins……...

The Euro-notes

Exchange rate….EURO USA: SPAIN:

Introduction Money is not only an economic matter but also a symbol that conveys many different things to people: status, power, national identity, pride, economic growth, and so on. Moreover, the meaning of money is different in each country.

Some previous research: Furnham (beliefs about money)Furnham (beliefs about money) Fank (Money-Handling Inventory)Fank (Money-Handling Inventory) Tang (MAS, Money Ethic Scale)Tang (MAS, Money Ethic Scale) Luna, Quintanilla & Diaz (Escala de Actitudes hacia el dinero, Attitudes toward money Scale)Luna, Quintanilla & Diaz (Escala de Actitudes hacia el dinero, Attitudes toward money Scale)

ATTITUDES TOWARD EURO Attitudes toward the European Monetary Union are important to the success of the EURO. Attitudes toward the EURO indicate clearly the disposition of the Spanish people (Spaniards) to accept or reject the EURO. A scale was developed to measure this. This scale has high internal consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha =.9036) and measures opinions and attitudes related to the EMU.

The sample…..mail survey 410 individuals from different areas of the Country (p=q=50% with a confidence level of 95% and sample error being +/-5%).

Spaniards opinion……. In general, participants expressed positive attitudes toward the new EURO. In fact, 71% of the participants agreed to replace the peseta with the EURO, while only 14% disagreed.

The role of information….

NATIONAL IDENTITY …... Spanish people were reluctant to leave their own country. 76% were against settling down in a foreign country if the possibility existed to do so in their own. 52.9% agreed that it is important to differentiate Spain from the rest of the member states

European Identity…... The introduction of the EURO could be seen as an important motivation towards the feeling of being more European.

NATIONAL PRIDE Among Spanish people, 77.65% of them were proud of their language, culture, traditions, and customs, 70.5% were proud of their Spanish history, 58.5% were proud of their King, 28.8% were proud of the peseta as being something national.

Regression model…. 1- Economic growth in Spain 2- Feeling of 'belonging' to Europe 3- Microeconomic expectations 4- Travel between countries 5 - Adaptation to the EMU 6- Reduction in budget provisions for social welfare 7- Dependency on a central European government 8- Personal importance of the EMU Attitude towards the EURO (Dependent Variable)