This Paper illustrates a model of predetermined pricing based on the work of Fischer (1977), where firms set a fixed schedule of nominal prices at the time of price readjustment. This type of price-setting specification cannot produce any excess persistence in a fixed duration model of staggered...

Open economy macroeconomics typically abstracts from portfolio structure. But the recent experience of financial globalization makes it important to understand the determinants and composition of gross country portfolios. This paper presents a simple approximation method for computing...

This Paper provides a quantitative investigation of the East Asian crisis of 1997-99. There are two essential features of the crisis that we focus on. These are: a) the crisis was a regional phenomenon; the depth and severity of the crisis was exacerbated by a large decline in regional demand;...

A fixed exchange rate limits the ability of the real exchange rate to adjust to shocks, and tends to raise the volatility of real GDP. But adjustment may be enhanced if internal prices are more flexible under a fixed exchange rate. This Paper develops a model in which price setters incur a cost...

This paper presents a general approximation method for characterizing time-varying equilibrium portfolios in a two-country dynamic general equilibrium model. The method can be easily adapted to most dynamic general equilibrium models, it applies to environments in which markets are complete or...

A classic argument for flexible exchange rates is that the exchange rate plays a ‘shock-absorber' role in an open economy hit by country specific shocks. This Paper presents a sharp counterexample to this argument within a very simple open economy model. Countries are subject to unpredictable...

The traditional current account can be an inaccurate measure of the change in the net foreign asset (NFA) position. Using gross asset and liability positions at the country level, a number of 'valuation effects' have been identified which contribute to changes in NFA but do not enter the...

This Paper develops an empirical model of bilateral exchange rate volatility. We conjecture that for developing economies, external financial liabilities have an important effect on desired bilateral exchange rate volatility, above and beyond the standard Optimal Currency Area (OCA) factors. By...

Recent global imbalances and large gross external financial movements have raised interest in modeling the relationship between international financial market structure and capital flows. This paper constructs a model in which the composition of national portfolios is an essential element in...

For the past four or five decades, the international monetary system has operated on a ’dollar standard’. Popular discussion suggests that this gives the US an advantage in the use of monetary policy. This Paper analyses the determination of monetary policy in a world with a dollar standard,...