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...

Analyses of the political economy of exchange-rate policy posit that firms and individuals in different sectors of the economy have distinct policy attitudes toward the level and the stability of the exchange rate. Most such approaches hypothesize that internationally exposed firms prefer more...

Under the assumption of no arbitrage, the credibility of an exchange rate target zone is tested by whether domestic interest rates fall within "rate-of-return bands" between the maximum and minimum home currency rate of return on a foreign investment in the absence of a devaluation. Under the...

This paper examines the credibility of the exchange rate policy pursued by the Belgian monetary authorities of pegging the Belgian franc to a narrow fluctuation band around the deutsche mark, in the context of the exchange rate mechanism of the European Monetary System. Simple interest rate...

Daily French and German interest rate changes since the Basle-Nyborg agreement of September 1987 are examined empirically. In particular, it is asked whether the shock associated with German unification altered the degree of leadership of German monetary policy in the exchange rate mechanism...

Recent incidents of exchange rate collapse have provoked interest in how much these events are determined by economic fundamentals. This paper considers whether interest rate differentials are appropriate measures of the risk of devaluation and whether this measure of devaluation risk reflects...

This paper explores the determinants of realignment expectations for the French franc--deutsche mark exchange rate. Expected changes in the central parity are estimated by adjusting short-term Euromarket interest rate differentials for the expected rate of change in the exchange rate within the...

In this paper, we present stylized facts about exchange rate fluctuations and intervention behavior in the Exchange Rate Mechanism I (ERM I), in particular in light of the recent literature on multilateral target zone models. We estimate bilateral exchange rate distributions of the maximum spot...

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 employs a principal-agent framework to analyze the role and design of outcomes-based conditionality in the presence of market frictions and domestic opposition. The results suggest that outcomes-based conditionality is a good option for the IMF when opposition to reforms is relatively...