This book collects together the basic documents of an approach to the theory and policy of the balance of payments developed in the 1970s. The approach marked a return to the historical traditions of international monetary theory after some thirty years of departure from them - a departure occasioned by the international collapse of the 1930s, the Keynesian Revolution and a long period of war and post-war reconstruction in which the international monetary system was fragmented by exchange controls, currency inconvertibility and controls over international trade and capital movements.

Supervised by Maurice Dobb, Harry Johnson was particularly impressed by the breadth and the ideas of Joseph Schumpeter, which greatly influenced his writings in later years. Johnson made many contributions to the development of Heckscher-Ohlin theory and also helped to found the monetary approach to the balance of payments. He wrote many surveys of monetary economics that helped to clarify the issues in question.

The studies in this book deal with the determination of foreign exchange rates and the characteristics of the foreign exchange market. Analysis is made of flexible exchange rates through an approach developed by the authors, called the 'asset-market approach'. Theory is combined with practical application in a clear concise way that will be understood by readers with a basic understanding of economics.