The purpose of the paper is to discuss how monetary policy decisions made by the board or monetary policy committee of a central bank can be implemented. It distinguishes between the polar extremes of direct and indirect methods of implementation, and explains why indirect methods are generally...

In many countries two decision-making institutions, the government and the central bank, manage fiscal and monetary policy separately. Such decentralization can lead to a change in the optimal inflation-output trade-off. In fact lack of cooperation can result in a change in the position of the...

The development of the seven main OECD economies during the 1970s and 1980s is discussed. Subsequently, wage equations of the error-correction type for the seven largest OECD economies are estimated. The hypothesis of real wage rigidity cannot be rejected for the French, German, Italian and...

In this paper we examine the international implications of monetary union in the European Community (EMU) and the associated international costs and benefits. We consider prospective changes in international institutions, the potential role of the ecu as an international currency, and the...

We analyse games between two countries which use the threat of imposing a tariff to induce each other to follow monetary policies equivalent to those that would obtain under a cooperative game. The analysis shows that -- under certain assumptions concerning the shares of tariff revenues, what...

The potential instability of a fixed monetary rule combined with automatic fixed stabilisers is a well-established feature of closed economy IS/LM models with wealth effects and asset accumulation. This paper examines the stability issue in a general open economy macromodel with alternative...

This paper extends earlier work (Kenen, 1987a, 1987b) on the ranking of exchange rate regimes. Using a two-country portfolio-balance model, it asks how pegged and floating exchange rates affect each country's ability to achieve its domestic policy objectives independently, without having to...

In this paper we investigate the role of credit institutions in transmitting monetary shocks to the domestic economy and to the output of the rest of the world. In modelling the monetary and financial sector of the economy we distinguish between monetary injections that take place via lump-sum...

This paper examines data on interest rates in the United Kingdom information on changes in policy regime and their credibility in order to discover the period from 1959-87 using quarterly data. A stochastic regime switching model used by Hamilton, based on an AR(4) model for short rates, and the...

This paper shows that international policy coordination is not counterproductive in a world where the incentive to run beggar-thy-neighbor policies internationally arises from the inefficiency that characterizes, within each country, the interaction between policymakers and private agents. The...