This paper attempts to capture the portfolio incentives for central bank participation in a multilateral trade clearinghouse and to discuss the relation of those incentives to the volume of trade. Clearing­houses for the netting of multilateral intra-regional trade have existed since the 1950s,...

This paper looks at the monetary policy decisions of the U.S. Federal Reserve and asks whether those decisions have been influenced solely by national concerns, or whether regional factors have played a role. All of the Federal Reserve's policymakers have some regional identity, i.e., either...

This paper investigates two issues related to international trade in computers: measurement and prediction. Because of the rapid technological advancement in the computer industry, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) measures computer prices using techniques that adjust for quality change. The...

The sizable run-up in U.S. external debt over the 1980s has prompted many to ask whether continued current account deficits of the magnitude witnessed can be sustained. In several recent papers, different authors have concluded that a given path of the dollar is unsustainable. The conclusion...