Beyond Trade – Is Reform Effort Affected by the Exchange Rate Regime? A Panel Analysis for the World versus OECD Countries

This paper examines the contemporaneous relationship between the exchange rate regime and structural economic reforms over a period of 30 years. We investigate empirically whether structural reforms are complements or substitutes for monetary commitment in the attempt to improve macroeconomic performance. The results contradict the hypothesis that exchange rate commitments may have slowed down the pace of structural reform, but neither provide robust evidence that losing the possibility of an exchange rate adjustment promotes labor and product market reforms.