The paper models an adjustable peg exchange rate arrangement as a policy rule with an escape clause under which the timing and magnitudes of realignments are the outcomes of policy optimization decisions. Under the assumptions that market participants are rational, risk averse, and fully...

This paper analyzes stabilization policy under predetermined exchange rates in a cash-in-advance, staggered-prices model. Under full credibility, a reduction in the rate of devaluation results in an immediate and permanent reduction in the inflation rate, with no effect on output or consumption....

This paper compares the SDR in terms of its risk-return characteristics relative to those of its five components and, on this basis, finds that the SDR has performed favorably over the period under review. In addition, several efficient portfolios including the SDR and its components are...

In this paper we analyze the degree of policy convergence of EMS member countries relative to that of some non-EMS countries. Interestingly, we find convergence for the nominal and real exchange rates and money supplies of the EMS members but not for the non-EMS countries. We also provide some...

In many developing countries the financial system is characterized by the absence of organized markets for securities and equities, by capital controls, and by legal ceilings on bank borrowing and lending rates, a situation which gives rise to parallel markets for foreign exchange and informal...

Many countries have initiated reforms in their monetary control procedures by relaxing direct controls and increasing the role of market processes. The changed approach is often inevitable when countries reform their financial systems in support of growth and adjustment. This is because reform...

This paper discusses key issues relating to the design and implementation of monetary policy in an emerging European economic and monetary union. Specific institutional proposals for transition to EMU are neither endorsed nor dismissed. In examining the goals of monetary policy, the paper...

This paper analyzes the financial policies pursued in the major industrial countries under the flexible exchange rate regime, and links misalignments in policies and their mixes to exchange rate variations among the major currencies. A number of indicators note that misalignments in fiscal...

The likely enlargement of euro-area membership will radically change the environment under which monetary policy will be made in the euro area. Within less than a decade, the number of member countries in the euro area could more than double, with the vast majority of accession countries being...

Exchange rate targeting is considered the best policy option in dollarized economies when wages and prices are indexed to the exchange rate. Croatia is a highly dollarized economy, but empirical investigation conducted in this paper shows that exchange rate pass-through has been low after...