Exchange Rate Politics in Latin America

by Wise, Carol; Roett, Riordan

• ISBN13: 9780815794875
• ISBN10: 0815794878
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-10-01
• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Summary

Most of the analysis of Latin American exchange rate problems and policies has concentrated on the economic side of things. This volume instead examines the politics of exchange rate management in four nations that had very different approaches and results. Although the Mexican peso crash, Brazil's currency crisis, Argentina's maintenance of a currency board, and Venezuelan policy responses to the shocks of 1997-98 have had major international financial ramifications, the origins and outcomes of these dramatic events have yet to be analyzed in a single volume. The contributors tie these policy episodes together using solid comparative analysis, in order to better inform the policy debate on these issues.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Introduction: Debates, Performance, and the Politics of Policy Choice	1	(22)
Carol Wise
Exchange Rae Regimes and Policies: An Overview	23	(20)
W. Max Corden
The Mexican Peso Crash: Causes, Consequences, and Comeback	43	(27)
Timothy Kessler
Brazil's Currency Crisis: The Shift from an Exchange Rate Anchor to a Flexible Regime	70	(23)
Eliana Cardoso
Argentina's Currency Board: The Ties that Bind?	93	(30)
Carol Wise
Reform-Lagging States and the Question of Devaluation: Venezuela's Response to the Exogenous Shocks of 1997-98	123	(36)
Javier Corrales
The Politics of Exchange Rate Management in the 1990s	159	(10)
Riordan Roett
Contributors	169	(2)
Index	171