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Exchange Rate Regimes: Some Lessons from Postwar Europe

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  • Wyplosz, Charles

Abstract

Can Europe's post-war experience with fixed exchange rates be useful for today's emerging market countries? A new conventional wisdom suggests that the answer is negative, that in today's world of huge capital flows the only choice is between freely floating exchange rates and hard pegs. The Paper argues to the contrary, that Europe's strategy has much to recommend it. Most European countries have identified trade integration as a key objective, and considered that exchange rate stability was a prerequisite for establishing a level-playing field. The survival of the regime was made possible by widespread financial repression. There is no evidence that such a strategy stunted growth, quite the contrary in fact. Nor is it the case that this strategy is impossible today for other small open economies.

Suggested Citation

  • Wyplosz, Charles, 2001. "Exchange Rate Regimes: Some Lessons from Postwar Europe," CEPR Discussion Papers 2723, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:2723
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Wyplosz, Charles, 2001. "How Risky is Financial Liberalization in the Developing Countries?," CEPR Discussion Papers 2724, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Dai, Meixing & Sidiropoulos, Moïse, 2003. "Inflation Targeting, Capital Mobility and Macroeconomic Stability," MPRA Paper 13858, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised May 2005.
    3. Hans-Joachim Voth, 2003. "Convertibility, currency controls and the cost of capital in Western Europe, 1950-1999," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(3), pages 255-276.
    4. Eduard Hochreiter & Pierre Siklos, 2004. "From Floating to Monetary Union: The Economic Distance between Exchange Rate Regimes," SUERF Studies, SUERF - The European Money and Finance Forum, number 2004/5 edited by Morten Balling, May.
    5. repec:cte:whrepe:wh030602 is not listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Liberalization; Sequencing; Exchange rate regimes; Currency crises;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E30 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • F30 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - General
    • F40 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - General
    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General

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