Fifty Years of Exchange Rate Research and Policy at the International Monetary Fund

Abstract

This paper reviews the development over the past fifty years in the IMF of research on, and policy attitudes toward, exchange rate matters. Three successive phases are noted. In the first ten to fifteen years, within the confines of the par value system, research was mainly focused on achieving a better understanding of the working of exchange rates. From the early 1960s to the mid-1980s, the focus shifted toward discovering and, if possible, enforcing “correct” exchange rates. More recently, the limitations of that approach have led to increased attention to the merits of alternative exchange rate regimes, both among the industrial countries and for developing countries.