This paper reviews the main policy and analytical issues related to currency substitution in developing countries. The paper discusses, first, whether currency substitution should be encouraged or not; second, how the presence of currency substitution affects the choice of nominal anchors in...

This paper studies price stabilization policy under both predetermined and flexible exchange rates. Under predetermined exchange rates, a non-credible stabilization program results in an initial expansion of output, followed by a later recession. The initial expansion accompanies an appreciating...

This paper examines factors determining the allocation of bank credit to the enterprise sector, and the implications of this allocation for aggregate supply and macro-economic performance, in the former socialist economies. It first develops a model to explain how changes in demand for money by...

A brief survey of the literature on speculative attacks is provided. The nature and causes of balance-of-payments crises, the implications for the behavior of the current account and the real exchange rate are discussed. Also, potential areas for future research on balance-of-payments crises are...

This paper presents a theoretical and empirical analysis of policies aimed at setting a more depreciated level of the real exchange rate. An intertemporal optimizing model suggests that, in the absence of changes in fiscal policy, a more depreciated level of the real exchange can only be...

During the past two years Latin America has received sizable international capital inflows. This paper compares the recent experience with that of the late 1970s. The analysis examines differences and similarities between the two episodes in three broad areas: domestic macroeconomic conditions...

This paper deals with the early stages of transformation of centrally-planned economies (CPEs) into market economies during which expectations play a key role. It focuses on the transitional phase during which the economy is not any more a CPE but has not yet become a market economy. During this...

This paper develops a theory of inflation inertia based on forward looking staggered price setting in the nontradable goods sector of a small open economy. Unlike current theories of sticky prices, transitions to a lower steady state inflation rate take time even if they are fully credible, and...

Exchange rate-based stabilizations often result in an initial output expansion. One explanation for this phenomenon has been that, in the presence of inflation inertia, a reduction in the nominal interest rate causes the domestic real interest rate to fall, thus increasing aggregate demand. This...

Optimal management of the public debt is explored in a context where economic policy is continuously revised because, when the public debt is non—indexed, policy—makers are tempted to use inflation in order to reduce the real value of the public debt. The model’s implications are explored...