We argue that the traditional question ‘fixed vs. flexible exchange rates?’ is not well-defined, because ‘flexible exchange rates’ does not explicitly specify any particular monetary policy. In traditional analyses, ‘flexible exchange rates’ was interpreted as implying a fixed money...

Despite its exclusion from the Doha agenda, the issue of trade and labor standards remains an intensely discussed subject among economists, policymakers, international agencies and nongovernmental organizations. In the past few years, both World Trade Organization (WTO) and International Labor...

Using a gravity model, we examine whether labor standards are important determinants of bilateral export performance for EU-15 countries over the period 1988-2001. We assess the conventional wisdom that countries with low labor standards and less stringent regulations have performed better in...

When shock therapy is politically infeasible, will gradualism be feasible? Mussa (1986) conjectured, in the context of a neoclassical model of adjustment, that the answer was "yes". This paper takes up the Mussa conjecture by : (i) building a political economy model in which it makes sense; (ii)...

This paper examines transition dynamics in a search economy. We contrast two extreme cases: a completely unexpected reform and a fully anticipated reform. We view the former as a metaphor for a reform being announced and implemented with immediate effect, the latter as a metaphor for a reform...