Effective Fund surveillance over the members of currency unions entails discussions at the regional level. This requirement derives from the fact that currency union members have devolved responsibility for policy areas that are central to Fund surveillance, notably monetary and exchange rate...

The paper considers whether the implementation of a fixed exchange rate regime requires or implies binding constraints on fiscal policy. The main conclusions are that, from a country perspective, the effective constraint is on the degree of monetary financing, which bears an uncertain...

This paper explains why sovereign issuers of reserve currencies do not use unexpected inflation to repudiate their foreign liabilities. Monetary restraint is exercised because of the fear that reserve users will switch to other currencies if an attempt is made to raise “excessive” revenue....