Popular perception is that emerging market economies (EMEs), and Asian Pacific Rim countries—China, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam (RIMs)—in particular, have been rapidly accumulating reserves, perhaps beyond what is justified by precautionary motives. This...

Why have emerging market economies (EMEs) been stockpiling international reserves? We find that motives have varied over time?vulnerability to current account shocks was relatively important in the 1980s but, as EMEs have become more financially integrated, factors related to the magnitude of...

The member countries of the International Monetary Fund collaborate to try to assure orderly exchange arrangements and promote a stable system of exchange rates, recognizing that the essential purpose of the international monetary system is to facilitate the exchange of goods, services, and...

We argue that evidence on whether floating exchange rates facilitate external adjustment is contradictory because existing regime classifications do not adequately capture exchange rate flexibility relevant to external adjustment. Using a trade-weighted bilateral exchange rate volatility...

This paper revisits the link between the nominal exchange rate regime and inflation, based on a sample of 145 emerging market and developing countries (EMDCs) over the period 1980-2010. We contend that, just as a de jure peg that is not backed by a de facto peg will have little value, de facto...

Milton Friedman argued that flexible exchange rates would facilitate external adjustment. Recent studies find surprisingly little robust evidence that they do. We argue that this is because they use composite (or aggregate) exchange rate regime classifications, which often mask very...

Este artículo emplea un conjunto de datos reciente que distingue entre desigualdad neta y de mercado, y permite calcular las transferencias redistributivas anuales de un gran número de países. Las principales conclusiones son: 1. Sociedades más desiguales tienden a redistribuir más. 2. Una...

We examine whether macroprudential policies and capital controls can contribute to enhancing financial stability in the face of large capital inflows. We construct new indices of foreign currency (FX)-related prudential measures, domestic prudential measures, and financial-sector capital...

The relevance of the exchange rate regime for macroeconomic performance remains a key issue in international macroeconomics. We use a comprehensive dataset covering nine regime-types for one hundred forty countries over thirty years to examine the link between the regime, inflation, and growth....