The article examines the issue of ‘current account sustainability’ in seventeen transition economies. For this purpose, two accounting frameworks (Milesi-Ferreti and Razin, 1996; Reisen, 1998) based on certain strict assumptions are employed. The results show that if the observed level of...

This paper describes the current episode of capital inflows to several Asian economies, summarizing the principal facts, the impact of the inflows, and policy options.25 The discussion also covers, when relevant, the similar experiences of Latin American countries, with an emphasis on the policy...

Comments on: Alan Drazen, whose paper represents a first effort to formalize the role of political considerations in the process of how currency crises are transmitted across international borders. The theoretical literature on “contagion” is scarce, and the empirical literature equally so....

The characteristfcs of recent capital inflows into Latin America are discussed. It is argued that these inflows are partly explained by conditions outside the region, like recession in the United States and lower international interest rates. This suggests the possibility that a reversal of...

This paper presents a theoretical and empirical analysis of policies aimed at setting a more depreciated level of the real exchange rate. An intertemporal optimizing model suggests that, in the absence of changes in fiscal policy, a more depreciated level of the real exchange can only be...

Since the 1980s, most emerging economies have experienced economic crises associated with large, prolonged current account deficits and real exchange rate misalignment. Eventually these governments ended up devaluing national currencies. Empirical evidence from developing countries suggests that...

Exchange rate management has become a hot debate in academic circles that examines the merits of fixed versus floating regimes. The 1997-98 Asian crisis has refocused attention on the exchange rate management of the East Asian countries. Most views expressed criticize the pre-crisis U.S....

In the Schumpeterian creative disruption age, the authors firmly believe that an increasing application of electronic technologies in the finances opens a big number of new unlimited opportunities toward a new era of the ultra high frequency electronic trading in the foreign currencies exchange...

Recent empirical studies have highlighted that valuation effects associated with fluctuations of nominal exchange rates are one of the key components that drive the behaviour of the net foreign assets position of a country. In this paper, we propose a two-country overlapping-generations model of...

The euro zone crisis illustrates the insufficiency of adjustment mechanisms in a monetary union characterized by a large heterogeneity. Exchange rate adjustments being impossible, they are very few alternative mechanisms. This situation reflects a simple diagnosis. At the level of the whole euro...