We argue that evidence on whether floating exchange rates facilitate external adjustment is contradictory because existing regime classifications do not adequately capture exchange rate flexibility relevant to external adjustment. Using a trade-weighted bilateral exchange rate volatility...

Exchange rate analysis lies at the center of the IMF's surveillance mandate and policy advice, as well as in the design of IMF-supported programs, and IMF staff are called upon to analyze a wide variety of exchange rate issues in various member countries, both small and large, from the least...

Why have emerging market economies (EMEs) been stockpiling international reserves? We find that motives have varied over time?vulnerability to current account shocks was relatively important in the 1980s but, as EMEs have become more financially integrated, factors related to the magnitude of...

Milton Friedman argued that flexible exchange rates would facilitate external adjustment. Recent studies find surprisingly little robust evidence that they do. We argue that this is because they use composite (or aggregate) exchange rate regime classifications, which often mask very...

Los países miembros del Fondo Monetario Internacional colaboran para asegurar que los regímenes cambiarios funcionen ordenadamente y para fomentar la estabilidad del sistema cambiario, reconociendo que el objetivo fundamental del sistema monetario internacional es facilitar el intercambio de...

This paper revisits the link between exchange rate regimes and trade in the context of Africa's exchange rate arrangements. Applying an augmented gravity model that includes measures of currency unions and pegged regimes, the paper compares Africa's experience with that of the world. Our results...