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"Over the past decade the United States has experienced widening current account deficits and a steady deterioration of its net foreign asset position. During the second half of the 1990s, this deterioration was fueled by foreign investment in a booming U.S. stock market. During the first half of the 2000s, this deterioration has been fuelled by foreign purchases of rapidly increasing U.S. government debt. A somewhat surprising aspect of the current debate is that stock market movements and fiscal policy choices have been largely treated as unrelated events. Stock market movements are usually interpreted as reflecting exogenous changes in perceived or real productivity, while budget deficits are usually understood as a mainly political decision. The authors challenge this view here and develop two alternative interpretations. Both are based on the notion that a bubble (the "dot-com" bubble) has been driving the stock market, but differ in their assumptions about the interactions between this bubble and fiscal policy (the "Bush" deficits). The "benevolent" view holds that a change in investor sentiment led to the collapse of the dot-com bubble and the Bush deficits were a welfare-improving policy response to this event. The "cynical" view holds instead that the Bush deficits led to the collapse of the dot-com bubble as the new administration tried to appropriate rents from foreign investors. The authors discuss the implications of each of these views for the future evolution of the U.S. economy and, in particular, its net foreign asset position. "--World Bank web site.

International Investment • Long-Term Capital Movements --- Current Account Adjustment • Short-Term Capital Movements --- Financial Aspects of Economic Integration --- Bush, George W. --- United States --- Economic policy

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“Program numbers” from a sample of IMF-supported programs are studied as if they were forecasts, through statistical analyses of the relationship between projections and outcomes for growth, inflation, and three balance of payments concepts. Statistical bias is found only for projections of inflation and official reserves. Statistical efficiency can be rejected for all variables except growth, suggesting that some program projections were less accurate than they might have been. Nevertheless, most projections are found to have some predictive value. Since several findings are shown to be sample-dependent, the full-sample results should be interpreted cautiously.

Exports and Imports --- Inflation --- Current Account Adjustment --- Short-term Capital Movements --- Price Level --- Deflation --- International economics --- Macroeconomics --- Capital account --- Current account balance --- Current account --- Capital account balance --- Prices --- Balance of payments --- Korea, Republic of

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This paper reviews recent developments in the exchange system in the Islamic Republic of Iran and in the real effective exchange rate (REER). It also considers the determinants of the REER in connection with the choice of exchange regime after unification. The study illustrates how economic policy variables and exogenous shocks affect the real exchange rate primarily through the fiscal balance, and consequently, the savings-investment gap. It further illustrates that the appropriate level of REER and its medium-term path depend upon the mix of monetary, fiscal, and structural policies that underpin the evolution of inflation, balance of payments, and productivity growth.

Foreign Exchange --- Studies of Particular Policy Episodes --- Current Account Adjustment --- Short-term Capital Movements --- Currency --- Foreign exchange --- Exchange rates --- Real exchange rates --- Exchange rate arrangements --- Real effective exchange rates --- Iran, Islamic Republic of

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Over the past decade or so, Tunisia has experienced a strong economic performance while pursuing a constant real exchange rate rule (CRERR). The limitations of this rule are now beginning to emerge in the context of a more open economy, regional integration, a more market-based monetary policy, and the desire to relax capital controls. This paper explores how Tunisia avoided the pitfalls of real exchange rate targeting as predicted by the theoretical models. By estimating the equilibrium real exchange rate based on fundamental variables and assessing different measures of competitiveness, the paper finds no evidence of a misalignment in the current level of the exchange rate.

Foreign Exchange --- Inflation --- Current Account Adjustment --- Short-term Capital Movements --- Price Level --- Deflation --- Currency --- Foreign exchange --- Macroeconomics --- Real exchange rates --- Exchange rates --- Real effective exchange rates --- Exchange rate arrangements --- Prices --- Tunisia

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The paper describes six different methodologies that have been used to assess the equilibrium values of exchange rates and discusses their limitations. It applies several of the approaches to data for the United States as of 2006, illustrates that different approaches sometimes provide substantially different assessments, and asks which methodologies deserve the most weight in such situations. It argues that while it is generally desirable to consider the implications of several different approaches, since different approaches provide different types of perspectives, two of the methodologies seem particularly relevant for identifying threats to macroeconomic stability and growth.

Exports and Imports --- Foreign Exchange --- Current Account Adjustment --- Short-term Capital Movements --- Currency --- Foreign exchange --- International economics --- Exchange rates --- Real exchange rates --- Purchasing power parity --- Exchange rate assessments --- Current account --- Balance of payments --- United States