A dynamic model of tariffs,output and employment under flexible exchange rates

A portfolio balance model of the open economy with imperfectly flexible wages and rational expectations is used to analyze the macroeconomic effects of commercial policy. Previous analyses have led to the ‘counterintuitive’ and ‘almost inconceivable’ conclusion that, under flexible exchange rates, a tariff is contractionary. By considering a tariff in a dynamic setting and focusing on the process of adjustment, it is shown that there may exist a tradeoff between a tariffs short-run and long-run effects. In certain circumstances, a tariff imposed under flexible exchange rates increases output and employment initially while reducing them subsequently.     

China and the Exports of Other Asian Countries

We analyze the impact of China’s growth on the exports of other Asian countries, distinguishing China’s demand for imports from its penetration of export markets. We account for the endogeneity of Chinese exports by applying instrumental variables in a gravity model with country-pair fixed-effects. We find that China’s crowding-out effect is felt mainly in markets for consumer goods and hence by less-developed Asian countries, not in markets for capital goods or by the more advanced Asian economies. Meanwhile, China has been sucking in imports from its Asian neighbors, but this effect is mainly felt in markets for capital goods. Hence, more and less developed Asian countries are being affected very differently by China’s rise. JEL no. E5, F4     

Two Views of the International Monetary System

Intereconomics - Distinguishing between two different schools of thought that are named after two different universities, Harvard and Berkeley, the article looks at the evolution, past and future,...     

Productivity Growth, the New Economy, and Catching Up

The paper offers some reflections on the convergence of productivity in the United States and Europe, which essentially stopped in the 1990s. It argues that the barriers preventing further convergence in the early 1990s were removed subsequently. But since then trends in productivity growth have been importantly affected by the advent of the New Economy, which poses further challenges for Europe. Without additional reform of European labor markets, financial markets, and university systems, we may be on the eve of another era of persistent divergence.     

Three generations of crises, three generations of crisis models

This paper considers the three devaluation of the pound sterling in 1931, 1949 and 1967 as a window onto the recent theoretical literature of currency crises.     

How the Subprime Crisis went global: Evidence from bank credit default swap spreads

How did the Subprime Crisis, a problem in a small corner of U.S. financial markets, affect the entire global banking system? To shed light on this question we use principal components analysis to identify common factors in the movement of banks' credit default swap spreads. We find that fortunes of international banks rise and fall together even in normal times along with short-term global economic prospects. But the importance of common factors rose steadily to exceptional levels from the outbreak of the Subprime Crisis to past the rescue of Bear Stearns, reflecting a diffuse sense that funding and credit risk was increasing. Following the failure of Lehman Brothers, the interdependencies briefly increased to a new high, before they fell back to the pre-Lehman elevated levels – but now they more clearly reflected heightened funding and counterparty risk. After Lehman's failure, the prospect of global recession became imminent, auguring the further deterioration of banks' loan portfolios. At this point the entire global financial system had become infected.     

The Enlargement Challenge: Can Monetary Union Be Made to Work in an EU of 25 Members?

This article considers the evolution of Europe's monetary union over the next five to ten years, concentrating on the most important likely change, namely the increased number and heterogeneity of participating states.     

Kicking the Habit: Moving from Pegged Rates to Greater Exchange Rate Flexibility

Why do governments find it so difficult to move from pegged exchange rates to greater exchange rate flexibility? I first establish that there is a problem to be solved: that there are powerful incentives for greater flexibility deriving from changes in the international economic and financial environment but that policymakers find it difficult to engineer a smooth transition. I offer practical suggestions and a framework under which the probability of a smooth transition can be maximised. Drawing examples from recent economic history, I then attempt to understand the experience of selected countries which have undertaken this transition.