For decades, the exchange rate was at the center of macroeconomic policy debates in emerging markets. Many countries used the nominal exchange rate to bring down inflation, –others—mostly in Latin America—used the exchange rate to implicitly tax the export sector. Currency crises were common and usually ...

In the early 1970s when he had barely turned thirty years old Vittorio Corbo was already a legend of sorts among development economists. His dissertation at M.I.T. became an instant classic a work that had to be read by anyone interested in understanding the dynamics of inflation in developing nations. ...

Globalization has been under attack over the last few years. Activists, famous academics, and commentators of various stripes have mounted a systematic campaign against free trade in goods and, especially, in financial claims. One of the latest manifestations of this antiliberalization mood was the ...

The role of inflationary persistence has become a recurrent theme in discussions on stabilization programs (Fischer, 1986). This has particularly been the case in recent debates on the merits of exchange-rate-based stabilization plans. Some authors claim that anti-inflationary programs based on ...

The United States has run an increasingly large current account deficit over the last few years. J. P. Morgan forecasts that in 2007 the deficit will reach almost one trillion dollars, or 7 percent of GDP. This unprecedented situation has generated concern among analysts and policymakers. Many argue ...

Economic analysts were surprised by the collapse of the Thai baht in July 1997. In the months that followed, most of the so-called East Asian Tigers faced severe balance-of-payments crises, and a year later, in August 1998, the Russian ruble was devalued. As a result of this succession of crises, the ...