This paper examines the regime changes in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), by applying the duration model approach to quarterly data of eight currencies participating in the ERM, covering the complete European Monetary System (EMS) history. We first make use of the nonparametric...

The paper presents a method of computing the risk neutral probability distribution of future exchange rates from the prices of currency options. The method is applied to estimate the risk neutral ex ante probability of a realignment of the pound sterling against the mark in 1992. The computation...

The idea of an East Asian Economic Zone, while much talked about since the 1980s, showed few signs of becoming a reality as a result of economic diplomacy alone. In 1997, however, international capital markets treated East Asian economies as a distinct region as “contagion” swept from...

This paper is devoted to the past, present, and future of the European Monetary System (EMS). After examining its background, the paper reviews the structure and operation of the EMS, as well as the theoretical framework used to explain exchange-rate movements inside official fluctuation bands....

Stylized empirical facts about the behaviour of exchange rates and interest rate differentials in real world target zone arrangements are at odds with the predictions of the simple (fully credible) target zone model. Incorporating time-varying devaluation risk in target zone models results in...

Stylized empirical facts about the correlation between the volume of international trade and exchange rate variability/uncertainty are at odds with the predictions of the simple open economy model. The present paper argues that this puzzle may be explained by drawing on the recent theoretical...

Exchange market pressure (EMP) measures the pressure on a currency to depreciate. It adds to the actual depreciation a weighted combination of policy instruments used to ward off depreciation, such as interest rates and foreign exchange interventions, where the weights are their effectiveness....

If there is exchange market pressure (EMP), monetary authorities can use the interest rate and official interventions to offset this depreciation tendency, or they can let the exchange rate change. We introduce a new approach to derive how these three variables should be combined to measure EMP....

We present a model of a quot;softquot; exchange rate target zone and interpret it as a stylized description of the post-August 1993 ERM. Our central bank targets a moving average of the current and past exchange rates, rather than the exchange rate's current level, thus allowing the rate to move...

Under the assumption that the balance of payments must satisfy the expected intertemporal balance, this paper seeks to establish a pre-condition for a crisis of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). Proposing that non-stationarity of the growth rate of assets is evidence of a violation of expected...