When central banks are transparent about their decision making, there may be clear benefits in terms of credibility, policy effectiveness, and improved democratic accountability. While recent literature has focused on all of these advantages of transparency, in this paper we consider one...

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...

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...

Several countries in eastern Europe may accede to the European Union in about two years time, making them candidates to join Europe's single currency from 2006. Some well-known economists have advocated that countries in eastern Europe adopt the euro now either unilaterally or by prior...