Managing Currency Crisis in Emerging Markets (National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report) - Hardcover

Dooley, Michael P; Frankel, Jeffrey A

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226155404 ISBN 13: 9780226155401

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2003

Synopsis

How to manage financial crises in emerging markets is a high-stakes and contentious challenge for public policy today. In this book, leading economists -many of whom have also participated in policy debates on these issues - consider how best to reduce the frequency and costs of such crises. The first three chapters focus on the immediate defence of a currency under attack, exploring whether unnecessary damage to economies can be avoided by adopting the right response in the first few days of a financial crisis. Next, contributors examine the adjustment programs that follow crises, considering how to design these programs so that they shorten the recovery phase, encourage economic growth, and minimize the probability of future difficulties. Finally, the last four papers analyze the actual effects of adjustment programs, asking whether they accomplish what they are designed to do and whether they impose disproportionate costs on the poorest members of society. Economists and policymakers should welcome this volume, as they have its companion, Sebastian Edwards and Jeffrey A. Frankel's "Preventing Currency Crises in Emerging Markets".

About this title

About the Author

Michael P. Dooley is a professor of economics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is also a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and the managing editor of theInternational Journal of Finance and Economics.

Jeffrey A. Frankel is the James W. Harpel Professor of Capital Formation and Economic Growth at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and the director of the National Bureau of Economic Research's program in International Finance and Macroeconomics. He is the coauthor, most recently, of American Economic Policy in the 1990s.

From the Inside Flap

The management of financial crises in emerging markets is a vital and high-stakes challenge in an increasingly global economy. For this reason, it's also a highly contentious issue in today's public policy circles. In this book, leading economists-many of whom have also participated in policy debates on these issues-consider how best to reduce the frequency and cost of such crises.

The contributions here explore the management process from the beginning of a crisis to the long-term effects of the techniques used to minimize it. The first three chapters focus on the earliest responses and the immediate defense of a currency under attack, exploring whether unnecessary damage to economies can be avoided by adopting the right response within the first few days of a financial crisis. Next, contributors examine the adjustment programs that follow, considering how to design these programs so that they shorten the recovery phase, encourage economic growth, and minimize the probability of future difficulties. Finally, the last four papers analyze the actual effects of adjustment programs, asking whether they accomplish what they are designed to do-and whether, as many critics assert, they impose disproportionate costs on the poorest members of society.

Recent high-profile currency crises have proven not only how harmful they can be to neighboring economies and trading partners, but also how important policy responses can be in determining their duration and severity. Economists and policymakers will welcome the insightful evaluations in this important volume, and those of its companion, Sebastian Edwards and Jeffrey A. Frankel's Preventing Currency Crises in Emerging Markets.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226155404
• ISBN 13: 9780226155401
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 456