Willem H. Buiter - Böcker

This volume, first published in 1985 and based on a conference organised jointly by the Centre for Economic Policy Research and the National Bureau of Economic Research, examines developments in the study of international economic policy coordination. Eight papers were presented, and the meeting concluded with a panel discussion on the prospects for international policy coordination. In past years, there has been a revival of interest in the study of the international coordination of economic policy in the United States and Europe. This volume presents some of the best research on this important topic. The papers focus on several issues of importance in determining the desirability of international policy coordination: the nature of the transmission effects by which one country's policies affect another country; the trade-off between the current and future effects of policies, and the credibility of government policy when undertaken unilaterally or coordinated internationally.

A blend of theoretical and policy-oriented analysis, this book provides a comprehensive assessment of the causes and implications of the 1992-3 crisis of the exchange rate mechanism of the European monetary system. Cogent factual presentation - including new details on the crisis - original theoretical analysis, and an interpretation rooted in the theory, make this treatment essential reading to understand the process toward economic and political integration in Europe. The authors first sketch the history of monetary cooperation in Europe from Bretton Woods to Maastricht. A step-by-step account of the 1992-3 events follows, including a discussion of the extent to which financial markets anticipated the crisis. A survey of the literature on the subject introduces the authors' center-periphery model of currency crisis. The authors argue that the vulnerability of Europe to financial crisis was - and still is - the result of the lack of concern with the systemic dimensions of monetary policy-making.

A blend of theoretical and policy-oriented analysis, this book provides a comprehensive assessment of the causes and implications of the 1992-3 crisis of the exchange rate mechanism of the European monetary system. Cogent factual presentation - including new details on the crisis - original theoretical analysis, and an interpretation rooted in the theory, make this treatment essential reading to understand the process toward economic and political integration in Europe. The authors first sketch the history of monetary cooperation in Europe from Bretton Woods to Maastricht. A step-by-step account of the 1992-3 events follows, including a discussion of the extent to which financial markets anticipated the crisis. A survey of the literature on the subject introduces the authors' center-periphery model of currency crisis. The authors argue that the vulnerability of Europe to financial crisis was - and still is - the result of the lack of concern with the systemic dimensions of monetary policy-making.

This title, first published in 1979, presents the Ph.D. thesis of the world-renowned economist and financial expert, Willem Buiter. In Part I, three alternative specifications of temporary equilibria in asset markets, including their implications for macroeconomic models, are discussed; Part II examines the long-term implications of some short-term macroeconomic models. The analysis of the theoretical foundations of ‘direct crowding out’ and ‘indirect crowding out’ is particularly prominent, with the result that a synthesis of short-term macroeconomic analysis and long-term growth theory is formulated. The traditional tools of comparative dynamics and stability analysis are employed frequently. However, it is also argued that the true scope of government policy can only be adequately evaluated with the aid of concepts such as dynamic and static controllability. Temporary Equilibrium and Long-Run Equilibrium is a valuable study, and relevant for all serious students of modern economic theory.