This paper shows that certain real rigidities can help explain high volatility of real exchange rates relative to other macroeconomic aggregates. An international real business cycle model is used to demonstrate that real exchange rate volatility increases if (i) it is costly to move labor...

This paper extends the study of current account reversals by considering the implications for the composition of output and employment. It is shown that decreases in current account deficits imply increases in tradable relative to nontradable output and/or declines in investment. The impact of...

A search-and-matching model of the labor market is incorporated into a small open economy model with nominal rigidities. This allows the behavior of tradable and nontradable sector unemployment rates to be studied under alternative monetary rules. An examination of dynamics in response to shocks...

The authors show how the causes of and the gains from current account imbalances can be integrated into undergraduate economics courses using the same pedagogical tools that are used to explain comparative advantage and the gains from trade. A nonzero current account provides a mechanism for...

This paper uses a unique new monthly US-UK real exchange rate series for the January 1794-December 2009 period to reexamine the academic debate over purchasing power parity (PPP). The consensus view described by Rogoff (1996) is that PPP holds in the long-run, but short-run deviations are very...

"The behavior of the US-UK real exchange rate over the period 1794-2005 is examined. This series includes five intervals of floating nominal exchange rates and four fixed exchange rate regime periods. A consistent pattern of higher real exchange rate volatility under floating nominal rates is...

This paper addresses two findings from the empirical literature testing uncovered interest parity (UIP): (i) more favorable results when interest differentials (IDs) are large and (ii) instability across samples. Simulations demonstrate that explanations of the results using large IDs based on...

This paper uses a unique new monthly US-UK real exchange rate series for the January 1794 – December 2009 period to reexamine the academic debate over purchasing power parity (PPP). The consensus view described by Rogoff (1996) is that PPP holds in the long-run, but short run deviations are...