How Much To Commit To An Exchange Rate Rule

The cost of reneging is a key reason policymakers hold back from strong commitments in their exchange rate policy. The stronger the commitment to an exchange rate rule, the more costly it is to deviate from it.

Exchange rate economics is an important field of investigation for academics, professionals and policy-makers. This book provides a comprehensive survey of the theory of and empirical evidence on the determination and effects of exchange rates. The exposition utilizes both diagrammatic and mathematical representations of the underlying models. The book is a comprehensive reference for those engaged in this field of research.

With the loss of Soviet control in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the move toward economic liberalization in many developing countries, a huge increase in the number of convertible currencies in the world has occurred. A key aspect of the management of these currencies involves their relationships with the world economy, which is determined

Eighteen well-known policymakers and economists discuss the rising use of currency substitution in Latin America. They examine the effects of currency boards on substitute currencies and on national stabilization programs. Latin American countries including Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, and Uruguay increasingly use dollars as a substitute for domestic currency. The experts debate whether the region should encourage or resist this trend. Topics include the effects of substitution on inflation, liquidity, and exchange rates. The discussions on Argentina, Peru, and Brazil focus on the ways in which currency boards have affected stabilization in these countries. They consider whether such boards can strengthen fiscal discipline and speed economic adjustment. A currency board issues money that is converted into a foreign reserve currency at a fixed exchange rate. This independent institution takes over the central bank's role as the sole issuer of base money. It also manages the exchange rate to keep the currency stable and convertible.

In a single volume, this book treats the theoretical, empirical, and case studies approaches to the implementation of monetary reforms and discusses specific countries' experiences with these approaches. The analyses are not restricted to central bank or exchange rate reforms, but consider all the principal tools of monetary reforms in this volume. The first section surveys and examines the types of monetary reforms. The second and third sections examine the pros and cons of exchange rate management and central bank independence. The final section of the book presents case studies on monetary and central bank experiences in Germany, the United States, Canada and Hungary.

The book sets out to show the current state of macroeconomics, from three main perspectives: methodology, theory and economic policy. It is built on extensive conversation with some of the world's leading macroeconomists. These are based on wide questionnaires, covering jointly almost all the topics of macroeconomic theory, as well as questions of methodology, real economy, and even academic systems and future lines of research. Some of the questions have been put to all the respondents or many of them, with the aim of bringing out their different positions. References about authors and themes are also provided.

Guillermo Calvo, who foresaw the financial crisis that followed the devaluationn of Mexico's peso, has spent much of his career thinking beyond the conventional wisdom. In a quiet and understated way, Calvo has made seminal contributions to several major research areas in macroeconomics, particularly monetary policy, exchange rates, public debt, and stabilization in Latin America and post-communist countries. Money, Exchange Rates, and Output brings together these contributions in a broad selection of the author's work over the past two decades. There are introductions to each section, and an introduction to the entire collection that outlines the connections throughout and survey the current state of macroeconomic theory. Specific issues covered are predetermined exchange rates, currency substitution, domestic public debt and seigniorage, and stabilizing transition economics.

Drawing together new papers by some of today's leading figures in international economics and finance, Understanding Interdependence surveys the current state of knowledge on the international monetary system and, by implication, defines the research horizon for the future. Covering topics including the behavior of exchange rates, the choice of exchange-rate regime, current-account adjustment in classical and Keynesian models, the extent and effects of capital mobility, international debt, the stabilization and reform of the formerly planned economies, European monetary union, and international policy coordination, the book underscores the importance of these subjects and identifies lessons for policymakers. The contributors to the volume are Michael Bruno, Ralph C. Bryant, Richard N. Cooper, Michael P. Dooley, Barry Eichengreen, Stanley Fischer, Charles A. E. Goodhart, Peter Hooper, Peter B. Kenen, Paul R. Krugman, Henri Lorie, Jaime Marquez, Ronald I. McKinnon, Michael Mussa, Maurice Obstfeld, John Odling-Smee, Assaf Razin, Dani Rodrik, Mark P. Taylor, and John Williamson.

The traditional assumption holds that the territory of money coincides precisely with the political frontiers of each nation state: France has the franc, the United Kingdom has the pound, the United States has the dollar. But the disparity between that simple mental landscape and the actual organization of currency spaces has grown in recent years, as territorial boundaries of individual states limit currency circulation less and less. Many currencies are used outside their "home" country for transactions either between nations or within foreign states. In this book, Benjamin J. Cohen asks what this new geography of money reveals about financial and political power. Cohen shows how recent changes in the geography of money challenge state sovereignty. He examines the role of money and the scope of cross-border currency competition in today's world. Drawing on new work in geography and network theory to explain the new spatial organization of monetary relations, Cohen suggests that international relations, political as well as economic, are being dramatically reshaped by the increasing interpenetration of national monetary spaces. This process, he explains, generates tensions and insecurities as well as opportunities for cooperation.