Hoping to avoid an economic slowdown during 1994, Mexico tried to maintain its quasi-pegged exchange rate while limiting monetary tightening by engaging in massive sterilized intervention-a policy that is not sustainable for long. The ultimate result was a collapse of the exchange rate, soaring...

If the plans of European governments for economic and monetary union by the end of the decade are realized, a new common currency called the euro will be in use in at least a few western European countries within five years. Even earlier, starting in 1999, a new European Central Bank is slated...