The switch to floating exchange rates during the 1970s has given economists the first comprehensive opportunity to assess the arguments for and against floating. Much new work has been done on various aspects of floating exchange rate behaviour. This article attempts a limited survey of the...

The Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates was abandoned by the industrialised countries in March 1973. They switched to a system of flexible exchange rates. Representatives of the developing countries were particularly critical of the industrialised countries’ exchange rate flexibility....

It is still frequently argued that a random process would be the best way of predicting the DM/dollar exchange rate. In the following empirical analysis, however, Dr. Rolf Schneider comes to the conclusion that the behaviour of the dollar can be explained largely in terms of basic economic...

The international competitiveness of German industry, so greatly dependent on exports, is in large measure determined both by fluctuations in the rate of exchange and by the level of its labour costs in relation to those of its competitors in the world market. Recent trends in these two factors...

The international economic development over the last century was characterised by various kinds of cycles. This article focusses on cyclical changes in the net barter terms of trade between primary products and manufactured goods. By comparing and contrasting the present circumstances with those...

In the traditional model of international trade, labour market reforms in one country are often viewed as beggar-thy-neighbour policies, because they negatively affect the competitiveness and employment levels of the country’s trading partners. Empirical evidence, however, suggests that this...