Real Economy is in Latvia and Estonia to see how the single currency serves 333 million Europeans.

Despite the crisis of recent years, Latvia successfully became the 18th and newest member of the eurozone on January 1, 2014.

In this edition, we explore the benefits of joining the euro club.

Host Maithreyi Seetharaman speaks to Valdis Dombrovskis, former Latvian prime minister and architect of the country’s adoption of the euro, to see how businesses and consumers view the transition.

We also take a trip back in time to look at Estonia’s transition to the euro in January 2011 and in particular the convergence criteria used to assess a country’s readiness for the changeover.