The Balance of Payments Textbook, like the Balance of Payments Compilation Guide, is a companion document to the fifth edition of the Balance of Payments Manual. The Textbook provides illustrative examples and applications of concepts, definitions, classifications, and conventions contained in the Manual and affords compilers with opportunities for enhancing their understanding of the relevant parts of the Manual. The Textbook is one of the main reference materials for training courses in balance of payments methodology.

The Balance of Payments Adjustment Process in Developing Countries deals with the manner in which the burden of adjustment to balance of payments disequilibrium in the 1970s was distributed between developed and developing countries. The book discusses the evidence on changes in the volume of trade; the evidence on price changes and their effects on the accounts of various groups of countries; and the general considerations regarding the character of the deficits of developing countries. The text also describes the mechanisms through which external disturbances are transmitted to the domestic economy, as well as certain questions relating to the financing of the deficits of developing countries. The changes in the world economy; the ways in which changes in the world economy affected the external accounts of the countries; and the effects of changes in the external accounts on developments in the domestic economy are also considered. The book further tackles the policy measures adopted to counter the deterioration in external balance and in growth performance and prospects; as well as the main issues that arise in the course of the adjustment process, at both national and international levels.

Annotation. A detailed analysis of the two approaches, Monetary and traditional Keynesian, to international adjustment and balance of payments.

An original and systematic synthesis of the major postwar developments in theory and policy of balance-of-payments adjustment, this book focuses on the present-day system of pegged-but-adjustable exchange rates and the problems that policy authorities must face if they are to attain full employment, price stability, balance-of-payments equilibrium, and a satisfactory rate of economic growth. The dominate theme of this book is that any system of exchange rates carries with it assumptions about the way it works and how effective the automatic and policy-motivated forces operate to bring about equilibrium in a country's balance of payments. By analyzing balance-of-payments adjustment and policies under alternative exchange-rate systems, and with different assumptions concerning the level of employment and prices, it is possible to embrace a wide variety of contemporary and historical circumstances experienced by individual countries and the world as a whole. In this way the author assesses the economic consequences of the different exchange-rate systems and of the policies that countries may follow to attain their national objectives. In particular it appears to Professor Stern that the international monetary turmoil of the past ten years can be traced to the exchange-rate inflexibilities of the adjustable-peg system and to the creation of excessive reserves under the dollar standard. He demonstrates that the international monetary system must be redesigned to permit greater exchange-rate inflexibility and control over the creation of new international reserve assets.

A companion document to the fifth edition of the Balance of Payments Manual, the Balance of Payments Compilation Guide shows how the conceptual framework described in the Manual may be implemented in practice. The primary purpose of the Guide is to provide practical guidance for using sources and methods to compile statistics on the balance of payments and the international investment position. the Guide is designed to assist balance of payments compilers and statisticians in understanding the relative strengths and weaknesses of various approaches. The material reflects the emergence of new data sources and adaptations in the application of statistical methodologies to changing circumstances. Discussed in the Guide are all of the tasks that a BOP compiler normally performs. Appendices contain a set of model BOP questionnaires and a set of model BOP publication tables. Relationships between the balance of payments statistics and relevant aspects of national accounts are covered as well.

The five parts of this collection of essays systematically and thoroughly examine the two competing theories of balance of payments and adjustment, namely the Keynesian and the Monetary approaches. Each part deals with specific aspects of the two approaches. Part I surveys the theories behind these two approaches, looking at the presuppositions, main theory, and policy recommendations which they include. Part II examines the empirical literature and describes the numerous models which have been proposed. Part III critiques the two theories on their assumptions, policy advice and empirical modeling. Part IV compares and contrasts the two views, both theoretically and empirically. Empirical studies on different countries are performed to emphasize the differing set of accounts and variables of the two approaches. Part V considers the approaches in a regime of flexible exchange rates. Scholars, students and researchers will find this collection of great help in understanding the two approaches to balance of payments and adjustment.