A rules-based fiscal framework, such as the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), can be an important bulwark against short-sighted policies. Although policies have improved following the SGP’s adoption, shortcomings remain. These, however, are rooted in the policies rather than the rules,...

This paper presents a simple semiannual model of world merchandise trade disaggregated by commodity class and by country or country grouping. It is designed principally to estimate the responsiveness of merchandise trade to variations in income and activity levels in the industrial countries....

This paper aims to present some first approximations as to the effects of past exchange rate changes on the foreign trade of France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The essential feature of the methodology is the attempt to eliminate from the foreign trade data of these...