In this paper we analyze the behavior of the risk premia in exchange markets with very different exchange rate regimes: free floating (dollar markets), the low credibility EMS regime (e.g., Lira/DM and FF/DM) and the high credibility EMS regime (guilder/DM). We find that in the first and the...

In this paper we present empirical evidence indicating that the EMS countries have experienced a worsening of their inflation/unemployment trade-off since 1979 which on average was more pronounced than in the rest of the OECD area (including the other European countries). We interpret this...

The nature of fiscal policies was changed dramatically by the creation of the Eurozone. While prior to the start of the Eurozone, national governments were sovereign in that they could back up the issue of debt by the issue of money, they lost this sovereignty in the Eurozone. This had dramatic...

This paper analyses the nature of the monetary policies in the EMS during the most recent recession. It shows that these monetary policies were very restrictive in an historical perpective, and identifies the characteristics of the workings of the EMS responsible for these monetary policies.

We analyze the similarities and the differences in the fragility of the European Monetary System (EMS) and the Eurozone. We test the hypothesis that in the EMS the fragility arose from the absence of a credible lender of last resort in the foreign exchange markets while in the Eurozone it was...

The nature of fiscal policies was changed dramatically by the creation of the Eurozone. While prior to the start of the Eurozone, national governments were sovereign in that they could back up the issue of debt by the issue of money, they lost this sovereignty in the Eurozone. This had dramatic...