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The Making of Exchange Rate Policy in the 1980s

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  • Jeffrey Frankel.

Abstract

This paper, written for an NBER conference on "American Economic Policy in the 1980s," discusses the dollar from the standpoint, not of what moved the exchange rate or what policies might have been better, but rather of why the political system adopted the policies that it did. The first half is a chronology of major exchange rate developments during the decade. The second half analyzes the actors and interest groups involved, their views on exchange rate policy, and the system within which they interacted. The strong dollar policy of the first Reagan Administration was less the result of the power of a particular economic ideology or interest group, than it was the result of Treasury Secretary Donald Regan's tenacious defense of the desirability of the side-effects of the President's economic program. The more pragmatic response of his successor, James Baker, to the problems of the trade deficit was to sanction the depreciation of the dollar from 1985 to 1987. But here again, the success of the Plaza strategy was less the result of a skillful and deliberate manipulation of policy tools to satisfy important interest groups, than it was the outcome of a mutually-reinforcing convoy of three bandwagons: bandwagons of the markets, the media, and the makers of policy.
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(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Jeffrey Frankel., 1991. "The Making of Exchange Rate Policy in the 1980s," Economics Working Papers 91-157, University of California at Berkeley.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucb:calbwp:91-157
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jeffrey D. Sachs, 1985. "The Dollar and the Policy Mix: 1985," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 16(1), pages 117-197.
    2. Jeffrey A. Frankel, 1986. "Overshooting Agricultural Commodity Markets and Public Policy: Discussion," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 68(2), pages 418-419.
    3. Bovenberg, A.L., 1989. "The effects of capital income taxation on international competitiveness and trade flows," Other publications TiSEM e64b6c96-399c-460f-9eff-7, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    4. Kathryn Dominguez & Jeffrey A. Frankel, 1991. "Does foreign exchange intervention matter? disentangling the portfolio and expectations effects for the mark," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Nov.
    5. Jeffrey Sachs, 1985. "The Dollar and the Policy Mix: 1985," NBER Working Papers 1636, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. McKinnon, Ronald I, 1988. "Monetary and Exchange Rate Policies for International Financial Stability: A Proposal," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 83-103, Winter.
    7. Stanley D Nollen, 1987. "Business Costs and Business Policy for Export Controls," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 18(1), pages 1-18, March.
    8. Paul R. Krugman, 1985. "Is the strong dollar sustainable?," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pages 103-155.
    9. Thomas Havrilesky, 1990. "Distributive Conflict And Monetary Policy," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 8(2), pages 50-61, April.
    10. Bovenberg, A Lans, 1989. "The Effects of Capital Income Taxation on International Competitiveness and Trade Flows," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(5), pages 1045-1064, December.
    11. Maurice Obstfeld, 1988. "The Effectiveness of Foreign-Exchange Intervention: Recent Experience," NBER Working Papers 2796, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Feldstein, Martin S, 1988. "Distinguished Lecture on Economics in Government: Thinking about International Economic Coordination," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 3-13, Spring.
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    Cited by:

    1. Barry Eichengreen., 1993. "International Monetary Arrangements for the 21st Century," Center for International and Development Economics Research (CIDER) Working Papers C93-021, University of California at Berkeley.
    2. Ito, Hiro, 2009. "U.S. current account debate with Japan then, with China now," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 294-313, May.
    3. Pope, Robin & Selten, Reinhard & Kaiser, Johannes & Kube, Sebastian & von Hagen, Jürgen, 2007. "The damage from clean floats: From an anti-inflationary monetary policy," Bonn Econ Discussion Papers 19/2007, University of Bonn, Bonn Graduate School of Economics (BGSE).
    4. Pope, Robin & Selten, Reinhard & Kube, Sebastian & von Hagen, Jürgen, 2009. "Managed Floats to Damp Shocks like 1982-5 and 2006-9: Field and Laboratory Evidence for Chinese Interest in a Single World Currency," Bonn Econ Discussion Papers 26/2009, University of Bonn, Bonn Graduate School of Economics (BGSE).
    5. Owen F. Humpage, 1991. "Central-bank intervention: recent literature, continuing controversy," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, vol. 27(Q II), pages 12-26.

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