In this paper, three possible reasons are examined for a sluggish inflation response to a hard-currency peg. Models of overlapping wage contracts are analyzed and shown to generate little inertia. These findings are contrasted with the effects of government credibility and the speed of private...

This paper evaluates the importance of auction format on bidding behavior and seller revenue, focusing on differences in performance under uniform-price and discriminatory-price formats. The analysis is based on a standard benchmark model from which empirically testable hypotheses are derived on...

This paper considers the effect of exchange and capital controls on trade in the gravity-equation framework, in which bilateral exports depend on the distance between countries, the countries' size and wealth, tariff barriers, and exchange and capital controls. The extent of exchange and capital...

This paper investigates the effects of fixed versus flexible exchange rates on firms' location choices and on countries' specialization patterns. In a two-country, twodifferentiated-goods monetary model, uncertainty arises after wages are set and prices are optimally chosen. The paper shows that...

This paper examines the role of structural factors--governance and rule of law, corporate sector governance (creditor rights and shareholder rights), corporate financing structure--as well as macroeconomic variables in currency crises. Using a technique known as a binary recursive tree allows...

Since 1999, IMF staff have been tracking several early warning system (EWS) models of currency crisis. The results have been mixed. One of the long-horizon models has performed well relative to pure guesswork and to available non-model-based forecasts, such as agency ratings and private...

We examine the mean-reverting properties of real exchange rates, by comparing the unit root properties of a group of international real exchange rates with two groups of intranational real exchange rates. Strikingly, we find that while the international real rates taken as a group appear mean...

The issue of whether the money supply can serve as a nominal anchor for the domestic price level under real exchange rate targeting is examined. When capital controls are perfect, so that there is complete separation between official and unofficial foreign exchange markets, the domestic...

The paper models an adjustable peg exchange rate arrangement as a policy rule with an escape clause under which the timing and magnitudes of realignments are the outcomes of policy optimization decisions. Under the assumptions that market participants are rational, risk averse, and fully...