Políticas macroeconômicas e regimes cambiais: uma resenha crítica da contribuição do mainstream na década de 80

This survey aims to give a condensed view of the great questions of macroeconomic policy, keeping the focus on the dilemmas involving the choice of a foreign exchange regime, posed by the developments inside the so-called mainstream school from the mid-eighties until the crisis of European Monetary System (EMS) in 1992-93. Seven interrelated themes are explored in the survey: first, the determination of the foreign exchange rate; second, the issue of credibility; third, the possibilities of exchange controls and international cooperation; fourth, the policy assignments for macroeconomic policies; fifth, the lessons of the EMS crisis; sixth, the macroeconomics of competitive disinflation in France; and seventh and last, the new faces of the external constraint.