Blueprints for Exchange Rate Management

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.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures. List of Tables. Preface. List of Conference Participants. M. Miller, B. Eichengreen, and R. Portes, Editors' Introduction. Historical Perspectives: A. Giovannini, How Do Fixed-Exchange-Rate Regimes Work? Evidence from the Gold Standard, Bretton Woods and the EMS. B. Eichengreen, Discussion. S.N. Broadberry, Monetary Interdependence and Deflation in Britain and the United States between the Wars. P. Turner, Discussion. Theoretical Issues: G.S. Alogoskoufis, Stabilization Policy, Fixed Exchange Rates and Target Zones. N. Rankin, Discussion. A. Hook and D. Walton, Commodity Price Indicators: A Case for Discretion Rather Than Rules. J.M. Boughton, Discussion. J.M. Boughton, Policy Assignment Strategies with Somewhat Flexible Exchange Rates. D. Vines, Discussion. M. Miller and P. Weller, Exchange-Rate Bands and Realignments in a Stationary Stochastic Setting. J. Driffill, Discussion. Empirical Testing: D. Currie and S. Wren-Lewis, A Comparison of Alternative Regimes for International Macropolicy Coordination. P. Minford, Exchange-Rate Regimes and Policy Coordination. S. Wren-Lewis, Discussion. A.H. Hallett, G. Holtham, and G. Hutson, Exchange-Rate Targeting as Surrogate International Cooperation. P. Levine, Discussion. P. Levine, D. Currie, and J. Gaines, The Use of Simple Rules for International Policy Agreements. F. van der Ploeg, Discussion. Index.

Review :
"Essential for those following the evolution of the International Monetary System." -THE FINANCIAL TIMES "Expectations roused by the quality of earlier volumes will not be disappointed: this is a stimulating collection of papers accompanied by a helpful set of discussants' reports...There is a great deal in this volume to inform and interest the scholar of international policy coordination." -THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL "The studies in this volume will be valuable reading for any economist interested in modeling exchange-rate systems, including historical ones." -JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC BOTANY "...the industrial world will continue to grapple with the issues addressed in Blueprints for Exchange Rate Management." -JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC LITERATURE