This book addresses the growing debate over proposals for international monetary reform and the tentative attempts, for example at the Louvre and Plaza accords, to achieve greater coordination of macroeconomic policies. The first section draws lessons from the experience of the interwar Gold Standard, the Bretton Woods system, and the EMS. Four papers examine theoretical issues underlying the design of coordinated economic policies. Contributors explore the use of commodity prices as indicators of inflationary pressures and analyze exchange rate target bands using concepts first developed in the financial literature. The final chapters present empirical evaluations of the performance of alternative exchange rate regimes, adding to the existing literature on the design of gains from coordinated economic policies. The contributors, drawn from academic and policy circles, include leading advocates of exchange rate target zones and 'disciplined floating'. This book is of interest to students of international macroeconomics and policy coordination and to all those who have followed the debate on the evolution of the international monetary system.

This work provides a valuable review of the most important developments in economic theory and application over the last decade. Comprising twenty-seven specially commissioned overviews, the volume presents a comprehensive and student-friendly guide to contemporary economics. Previously published by Routledge as part of the Companion to Contemporary Economic Thought, these essays are made available here for the first time in a concise paperback edition. A Guide to Modern Economics will be a valuable guide to all those who wish to familiarize themselves with the most recent developments in the discipline.

The book investigates issues of policy design in open economies. The performance of simple alternative policy rules is analysed in the context of theoretical models using both analytical solutions and numerical simulations techniques. One of the substantive contributions of the research is that policy evaluation should take into account, among other things, the implications of different rules for foreign wealth and the exchange rate. Hence the open economy models presented in the book include wealth effects and the current account.

Monetary Policy in the European Monetary Systems (EMS) provides the reader with a critical assessment of the EMS operation, focusing on key issues like intervention in money and foreign exchange markets and credibility of EMS exchange rate bands. The book also reopens the discussion on the "EMS discipline-credibility hypothesis" and the notion of "New EMS", testing both with an original methodology. The conflict between internal and external objectives is made clear and the empirical results show the choices made by the individual countries and the resulting implications. The book is written with an empirical orientation based on a unifying data description framework.

The fiftieth anniversary of the Bretton Woods Conference served as an opportunity to reappraise the desirability of strengthening the IMF's oversight of the functioning of the international monetary system. Whatever the design of an exchange rate system and the arrangements for the provision of international liquidity, it is widely accepted that to be effective such oversight must rest on a strong analytic foundation. These two volumes, edited by Jacob A. Frenkel and Morris Goldstein, present 30 analytic papers on the system as it functioned during 1987-91 and aim at conveying the flavor of those issues that commanded close attention in the Fund's research program.

Since the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998, there has been a deep and abiding desire on the part of Asian policy makers and opinion makers to enhance the region's economic, monetary and financial self-sufficiency — or at least to ring-fence the region against financial instability and give it a louder voice in global financial affairs. There has been progress in these directions, notably in the form of the Chiang Mai Initiative of financial supports and the Asian Bond Market Initiative to build a single Asian financial market. But progress is hindered by disagreements among the principal national governments — Japan, China and South Korea — and resistance to the development of an Asian bloc from both Europe and the United States.This volume considers these issues from a number of different national and analytical perspectives. Scholars from all the relevant regions and countries are represented: Japan, China, Korea, Europe and the United States. While there have been a few previous books and articles concerned with the issue of Asian integration, this is one of the first volumes to successfully draw together top contributors from these different countries and regions to address the issues in a rigorous but relatively accessible way.

Drawing together new papers by some of today's leading figures in international economics and finance, Understanding Interdependence surveys the current state of knowledge on the international monetary system and, by implication, defines the research horizon for the future. Covering topics including the behavior of exchange rates, the choice of exchange-rate regime, current-account adjustment in classical and Keynesian models, the extent and effects of capital mobility, international debt, the stabilization and reform of the formerly planned economies, European monetary union, and international policy coordination, the book underscores the importance of these subjects and identifies lessons for policymakers. The contributors to the volume are Michael Bruno, Ralph C. Bryant, Richard N. Cooper, Michael P. Dooley, Barry Eichengreen, Stanley Fischer, Charles A. E. Goodhart, Peter Hooper, Peter B. Kenen, Paul R. Krugman, Henri Lorie, Jaime Marquez, Ronald I. McKinnon, Michael Mussa, Maurice Obstfeld, John Odling-Smee, Assaf Razin, Dani Rodrik, Mark P. Taylor, and John Williamson.