We investigate the behaviour of the real effective exchange rates (REER) of the two CFA franc zone monetary unions - CEMAC and WAEMU - vis-a-vis their long-run equilibrium paths. A reduced form of the Edwards' (1989) fundamentals equilibrium exchange rate (FEER) model is estimated using the...

This paper explores and quantifies several aspects of the performance of Africa's currency unions. It benchmarks Africa's experience with that of the world using an augmented version of the gravity model and applying a comprehensive set of robustness checks. The empirical findings suggest that...

This paper revisits the link between fixed exchange rate regimes and trade in the context of Africa’s exchange rate arrangements, differentiating the effects of hard pegs (currency unions) from conventional soft pegs. Using a novel dataset of exchange rate regime classification, the paper...

Following the recent global financial crisis, questions about the mechanisms that can help countries cope with large shocks have resurfaced. This paper examines the role of the exchange rate regime in explaining how emerging market economies fared in the recent global financial crisis,...

Popular perception is that emerging market economies (EMEs), and Asian Pacific Rim countries—China, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam (RIMs)—in particular, have been rapidly accumulating reserves, perhaps beyond what is justified by precautionary motives. This...

We argue that evidence on whether floating exchange rates facilitate external adjustment is contradictory because existing regime classifications do not adequately capture exchange rate flexibility relevant to external adjustment. Using a trade-weighted bilateral exchange rate volatility...

Summary Applying hard and soft clustering algorithms to a set of variables suggested by the convergence criteria and the theory of optimal currency areas, this paper examines the suitability of countries in the west African region to form the proposed monetary unions, the West African Monetary...