Freitas, Miguel Lebre dePeixoto, Manuel Maria Berjano2022-08-172022-08-172022-01-132021-12-17http://hdl.handle.net/10362/143063This paper aims to gain insight in to how a membership in the European Monetary Union could help in GDP growth forecasts. It will attempt to answer this question using panel data, a Fixed Effects model, and an Elastic Net model. In the end, it concludes that an EMU membership has a positive indirect impact on GDP growth through lower effective nominal exchange rate volatility and better institutional quality, and a negative impact on growth through a third unidentified channel. However, the overall impact of being a part of the EMU appears to be neutral.engMachine learningEcononomic growthEmuPanel dataFixed effectsmaster thesis203021371