AbstractThe article reviews the performance of flexible exchange rates in the last twelve years and considers whether there are any real alternatives to the present regime. It first presents an ‘idealised’ version of what flexible exchange rates were sup posed to do; it then shows how different the reality has been. The article evaluates, in some detail, two claims made for the flexible exchange rate system: that nominal rates would tend to move in line with relative prices and with other changes in fundamentals and that it would provide macroeconomic independence. The article concludes by providing a framework in terms of cost‐benefit analysis for the evaluation of alternative exchange rate regimes.
Read full abstract