This paper investigates linkages between stock markets in seven industrialized countries since 1974. Empirical evidence shows that both nominal and real stock prices (and returns) are strongly positively correlated across countries, and that nominal exchange rate changes do not have systematic...

This paper reviews developments and issues in the exchange arrangements and currency convertibility of IMF members. Against the backdrop of continuing financial globalization and a series of emerging market crises since 1997, there have been important changes in the evolution of exchange rate...

The IMF Working Papers series is designed to make IMF staff research available to a wide audience. Almost 300 Working Papers are released each year, covering a wide range of theoretical and analytical topics, including balance of payments, monetary and fiscal issues, global liquidity, and...

The 2008 crisis underscored the interconnectedness of the international business cycle, with U.S. shocks leading to the largest global slowdown since the 1930s. We estimate spillover effects across major advanced country regions in a structural VAR (SVAR) using pre-crisis data. Our new method...

This book examines the challenges facing the international monetary and financial system, as well as the future role of the Bretton Woods institutions in addressing those challenges. The volume is based on the proceedings of a 2004 conference cosponsored by the Banco de Espana and the...

This paper examines the relationship between monetary and exchange rate policies by considering the factors that have led the authorities in developed and developing countries in Asia to alter their use of monetary policy instruments and exchange rate arrangements since the mid-1970s. There is...

The use of purchasing power parity as a basis of fixing exchange rates among industrial countries, as proposed by McKinnon, is discussed and contrasted with alternative interpretations of the PPP doctrine. Major policy implications of such a regime are emphasized. Furthermore, a new technique...