Analyses of the political economy of exchange-rate policy posit that firms and individuals in different sectors of the economy have distinct policy attitudes toward the level and the stability of the exchange rate. Most such approaches hypothesize that internationally exposed firms prefer more...

We extend the analysis in Kose, Prasad, and Terrones (2005) to provide a comprehensive examination of the cross-sectional relationship between growth and macroeconomic volatility over the past four decades. We also document that while there has generally been a negative relationship between...

Utilizing panel data for 19 member countries of the Organization for Cooperation and Development (OECD), we find support for the hypothesis that a greater degree of product variety relative to the United States helps to explain relative per capita GDP levels. The empirical work relies upon some...

Utilizing panel data for 19 member countries of the Organization for Cooperation and Development (OECD), we find support for the hypothesis that a greater degree of product variety relative to the United States helps to explain relative per capita GDP levels. The empirical work relies upon some...

The relationship between real interest rates, saving, and growth is a central issue in development economics. Using macroeconomic data for a cross-section of countries, we estimate a model in which the intertemporal elasticity of substitution varies with the level of wealth. The estimated...

Daily French and German interest rate changes since the Basle-Nyborg agreement of September 1987 are examined empirically. In particular, it is asked whether the shock associated with German unification altered the degree of leadership of German monetary policy in the exchange rate mechanism...

There is surprisingly little empirical research on whether Balassa-Samuelson effects can explain the long-run behavior of real exchange rates in developing countries. This paper presents new evidence on this issue based on a panel-data sample of 16 developing countries. The paper finds that the...

This paper tests for purchasing power parity (PPP) using real effective exchange rate data for 90 developed and developing countries in the post-Bretton Woods period. Support for PPP is found, since the majority of countries experience finite deviations of real exchange rates from parity. The...

This paper examines the role of structural factors--governance and rule of law, corporate sector governance (creditor rights and shareholder rights), corporate financing structure--as well as macroeconomic variables in currency crises. Using a technique known as a binary recursive tree allows...

Some empirical research has suggested that inflation is more persistent under floating exchange rates. Theoretically, we should expect a higher variance of inflation persistence across countries under floating rates, but not necessarily a higher mean. It is shown that estimates of inflation...