This paper describes the result and the methodology of updating nominal and real effective exchange rate weights on the basis of trade data from 1999 to 2001. The underlying framework is an updated version of the IMF's current effective exchange rate calculation, which uses weights largely based...

This paper describes the result and the methodology of updating nominal and real effective exchange rate weights on the basis of trade data from 1999 to 2001. The underlying framework is an updated version of the IMF's current effective exchange rate calculation, which uses weights largely based...

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...

Two main views of exchange rate determination have evolved since the early 1970s: the monetary approach to the exchange rate (in flexible-price, sticky-price, and real interest differential formulations); and the portfolio balance approach. The literature on these views is surveyed, followed by...

The macroeconomic effects of a variety of exogenous and policy-induced real disturbances are examined under the assumption that the authorities target the level of the real exchange rate. We first discuss the implications--particularly for inflation and the current account--of targeting the rate...

This paper provides some new empirical perspectives on the relationship between international trade and macroeconomic fluctuations in industrial economies. First, a comprehensive set of stylized facts concerning fluctuations in trade variables and their determinants is presented. A measure of...

This paper examines the impact of trade costs on real exchange rate volatility. The relationship is examined by constructing a two-country Ricardian model of trade, based on the work of Dornbusch, Fischer, and Samuelson (1977), which shows that higher trade costs result in a larger nontradables...

In this paper, we examine how country insurance schemes affect policymakers' incentives to undertake reforms. Such schemes (especially when made contingent on negative external shocks) are more likely to foster than to delay reform in crisis-prone volatile economies. The consequences of country...

In this paper, we examine how country insurance schemes affect policymakers' incentives to undertake reforms. Such schemes (especially when made contingent on negative external shocks) are more likely to foster than to delay reform in crisis-prone volatile economies. The consequences of country...