Two macroeconomic constraints determine the credibility of an exchange rate system: the availability of foreign exchange and the sustainability of fiscal balance. The following paper analyses the relative importance of these constraints for fixed and flexible exchange rate systems, examines the...

Based on theory and on evidence from the Southern Cone the following paper concludes for emerging market economies (1) that fiscal reform is of utmost importance for macroeconomic reforms, (2) that credibility cannot be imported via a fixed exchange rate but has to be established by internal...

The Tobin tax idea, developed during the 1970s as a tax on foreign-exchange transactions, has found its way back into the academic and policy debates, since the Copenhagen World Social Summit and the G7 Summit in early 1995 at the latest. At both events, proposals were put forward to impose a...