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Working Paper
Are there adverse real effects from monetary policy coordination? Some evidence from Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands
A central hypothesis and concern of some skeptics of European monetary union is that monetary policy coordination to secure a peg to the German mark (DM) will tie real economic performance, especially the unemployment rate, to that in Germany. Evidence on this hypothesis can be found in Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands, however, where currencies have been tightly pegged to the mark since 1979, 1986 and 1984, respectively. This paper reviews the theoretical link between a country's real performance and its coordination with foreign economic policy. It uses the three countries' Phillips ...
Journal Article
International Influences on U.S. Inflation
The COVID-19 inflation surge experienced abroad undoubtedly left its mark on U.S. inflation. As global economies return to business as usual, it is natural to ask whether international considerations continue to affect U.S. inflation. Recent analysis shows that, although in normal times the international component of U.S. inflation is usually small, at other times it can contribute significantly to U.S. inflation dynamics.
Discussion Paper
Dutch Treat: The Netherlands’ Exorbitant Privilege in the Eighteenth Century
The term “exorbitant privilege” emerged in the 1960s to describe the advantages derived by the U.S. economy from the dollar’s status as the de facto global reserve currency. In this post, we examine the exorbitant privilege that accrued to the Netherlands in the eighteenth century, when the Dutch guilder enjoyed global reserve currency status. We show how the private actions of financial institutions created and maintained this privilege, even in the absence of a central bank. While privilege benefited the Dutch financial system in many ways, it also laid the seeds of later financial ...