Most economies experience episodes of persistent real exchange rate appreciations, when the question arises whether there is a need for intervention to protect the export sector. In this paper we present a model of irreversible destruction where exchange rate intervention may be justified if the...

It has been a remarkably difficult empirical task to identify clear-cut real effects of exchange-rate regimes on the open economy. Similarly, no definitive view emerges as to the aggregate effects of capital account liberalizations. The main hypothesis of the paper is that a direct and an...

It is a well known fact that a country or other becomes richer or poorer to a large extent depending on the character of the country’s international specialisation. For centuries, the world’s countries have permanently changed their specialisation type in order to obtain higher incomes and...

Most theoretical analysis of flexible vs. fixed exchange rates take the degree of nominal rigidity to be independent of the exchange rate regime choice itself. But informal policy discussion often suggests that a credible exchange rate peg may increase internal price flexibility. This paper...

This paper studies how the world accommodates emerging giants. That is, as a large country embarks on a transition path that potentially takes it from being a relatively poor country to joining the ranks of the rich, how does the rest of the world adjust in reallocating its scarce resources?...

The IMF began to play a prominent role in low-income countries in the late 1970s and 1980s when many countries faced overvalued exchange rates, growing budget deficits, high inflation, and low reserves. But times have changed, and many low-income countries no longer face these problems and do...

In this paper, we apply the duality approach, which is generally used in a static framework, to a two-sector overlapping generations model. Applying the duality approach enables one to determine clearly the welfare effects of a transfer and to explain how the transfer paradox might occur....

Payne and Kumazawa (2005) examine the effect of domestic savings, foreign aid, the evolution of capital mobility over time, and openness on investment rates using a panel of sub-Saharan African countries. They find that capital mobility has increased over time and that foreign aid and openness...

Pass-through from the nominal effective exchange rate to import prices is modelled within a regime-switching environment. Evidence suggests that exchange rate pass through can be characterised as regime-specific where the probability of switching between regimes is influenced by the extent of...

The relationship between temporary terms of trade shocks and household saving in developing countries is examined. It is first shown that, from a theoretical standpoint, this relationship is ambiguous: private saving may rise or fall in response to a transitory terms of trade shock, depending on...