Regional economic arrangements such as free trade areas (FTAs), customs unions, and currency blocs, have become increasingly prevalent in the world economy. Both pervasive and controversial, regionalization has some economists optimistic about the opportunities it creates and others fearful that it may corrupt fragile efforts to encourage global free trade.
Including both empirical and theoretical studies, this volume addresses several important questions: Why do countries adopt FTAs and other regional trading arrangements? To what extent have existing regional arrangements actually...

This book is a survey of exchange-rate economics. Using the latest econometric techniques, it covers the main theories that explain the determination of exchange rates and utilizes recent empirical data on exchange rate behavior.

The "NBER International Seminar on Macroeconomics" brings together leading American and European economists to discuss a broad range of current issues in global macroeconomics. An international companion to the more American-focused "NBER Macroeconomics Annual," the distinguished ISoM has met annually in Europe for over thirty years. Papers in this year s volume fall into three categories: productivity in the international economy; a view of demand stimulus through the lens of the high level of unemployment that most advanced countries experience in the recent global recession; and nominal...