Competing hypotheses about what causes excessive exchange rate volatility--speculative bubbles or "fundamental" economic variables--are examined for the Lebanese pound during its protracted depreciation from end-1982 to November 1987 and its marked appreciation over the following six months....

Conventional fiscal accounting methodologies do not appropriately account for governments' noncash policies, such as their contingent liabilities. When these liabilities are called, budget costs can be large, as evidenced by the U.S. savings and loan crisis. In general, deficit measures may...