Differential requirements for seigniorage provide a weak case for retaining monetary independence. As regards adjustment to asymmetric shocks, nominal exchange rate flexibility is at best a limited blessing and at worst a limited curse. Absence of significant fiscal redistribution mechanisms...

In this paper we formalize the framework for monetary and exchange rate policy presented in Bofinger and Wollmershäuser [2001a]. We develop a simple comparative static model for an open economy that allows us to discuss monetary policy under the exchange rate strategies of independently...

A traditional OCA criterion holds that the more symmetric the shock exposure of countries, the more suited they are for currency union. According to Frankel and Rose (1998, 2002), growing correlation of the ex post income fluctuations of members also can provide endogenous justification for...

A traditional OCA criterion holds that the more symmetric the shock exposure of countries, the more suited they are for currency union. According to Frankel and Rose (1998, 2002), growing correlation of the ex post income fluctuations of members also can provide endogenous justification for...

Omitted from traditional OCA criteria, price effects are important because regional monetary union protects from pricing risks and contributes to greater uniformity and efficiency in price setting. Among member countries it reduces price dispersion in tradables in part by irrevocably fixing the...

Regional monetary union offers important income and price-level insurance to its members. The welfare gains available through the completion of financial markets from income and consumption insurance alone are especially large. They are much greater than those available from access to...

In contrast to the popular bipolar view on exchange rate choices, this paper argues that intermediate regimes in general and regional exchange rate systems such as the European Monetary System (EMS) in particular should not be ruled out per se when discussing monetary options for East Asian...

This paper analyzes deviations from uncovered interest rate parity which are interpreted as indicator of the substitutability of currencies. Backward recursive statistical tests and error correction models are applied to study the co-movement of interest rates, and rolling regressions are used...

The new members of the European Union (EC8) in 2004 could not have imagined the possibility of joining the EU thirty years ago. The next goal of the EC8 is to achieve European Monetary Union (EMU) convergence in the foreseeable future. This paper looks at the progress achieved by the EC8 to...

This paper provides an analysis of Keynes’s original Bancorʺ proposal as well as more recent proposals for fixed exchange rates. We argue that these schemes fail to pay due attention to the importance of capital movements in today’s economy, and that they implicitly adopt an unsatisfactory...