In the 1970s the world experienced a serious economic crisis, which was widely attributed to the need to recycle petro dollars. In the 2000s the same need for recycling existed to an even greater degree because of large Chinese trade surpluses that added to those of petro producers.Some analysts...

After the onset of the Great Recession in 2008 the Federal Reserve engaged in very expansionary monetary policy, which resulted in near zero interest rates on short-term securities. This policy, together with record fiscal deficits, failed to restore full employment as historic experiences would...

The paper presents data on the level and composition of the actual and forecast debt of the US government. It argues that the real burden of this debt cannot be reduced significantly by inflation because the bulk of it is held by government agencies, is adjusted for inflation or is short-term....

The paper discusses recent changes in conventional wisdom about the optimality of fixed and flexible exchange rates. It develops the important difference between traditional and hard currency fixing. The main part of the paper analyzes the traditional benefits and costs of fixed currencies, how...