What determines the currency to which countries peg or "anchor" their exchange rate? Data for over 100 countries between 1980 and 1998 reveal that trade network externalities are a key determinant. This implies that anchor currency choice may well be suboptimal in that certain currencies, e.g.,...

The paper describes six different methodologies that have been used to assess the equilibrium values of exchange rates and discusses their limitations. It applies several of the approaches to data for the United States as of 2006, illustrates that different approaches sometimes provide...

This paper investigates the impact of the distribution sector on the real exchange rate, controlling for the Balassa-Samuelson effect, as well as other macro variables. Long-run coefficients are estimated using a panel dynamic OLS estimator. The main result is that an increase in the...

In letzter Zeit wurden einige kritische Äußerungen zur Rolle des US-Dollar als Leitwährung laut. Sollte er als Weltleit- und Reservewährung ersetzt werden? Lukas Menkhoff, Universität Hannover, sieht den US-Dollar »längst in der Phase des Siechtums als internationale Leitwährung«. Der...