A new "fiscal" theory of price determination has implications for exchange rate systems and common currency areas. We show that deeper monetary integration requires the discipline of a Ricardian regime; that is, the government must guarantee fiscal solvency for any sequence of prices or exchange...

First, the authors modify the Barro-Gordon model so that a credibility-stabilization trade-off will remain, even when a performance contract of the type envisaged by Carl Walsh (1995) is imposed on the central bank governor. They do this by modeling a real interest rate bias along with the...

The authors propose a view of optimal currency areas that is based on the principles of public finance. Inflation taxes are distortionary, and an optimal spreading of tax distortions may require high inflation in one region and low inflation in another. Each region would need its own currency to...

A literature has grown up around papers by Kydland and Prescott (1977) and Barro and Gordon (1983) which shows how governments have an incentive to inflate the economy (to generate extra output) then the private sector will anticipate this and the economy will stick at a high inflation...

The authors calibrate a simple general equilibrium model to assess the implications of financial market integration on real interest rates and equity prices in Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom. They consider a flexible exchange rate regime, a hard EMS, and a common currency. The...