How the government arrives at its official economic statistics deeply influences the lives of every American. Social Security payments and even some wages are linked to import prices through official inflation rates; special measures of national product are necessary for valid comparisons of...

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Introduction -- PART I: APPRAISING EXCHANGE-RATE ARRANGEMENTS -- 1. The Endogeneity of Exchange-Rate Regimes -- 2. Exchange-Rate Behavior under Alternative Exchange-Rate Arrangements -- 3. Panel: One Money for How Many? -- PART II:...

This paper explores the link between financial conditions and economic activity. We first review existing measures, including both single indicators and composite financial conditions indexes (FCIs). We then build a new FCI that features three key innovations. First, besides interest rates and...