Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T15:43:10.428Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

International Collusion or Competition for Macroeconomic Policy Coordination? A Restatement*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2016

Roland Vaubel
Get access

Extract

Ever since the breakdown of the Bretton Woods System, there has been a chorus of economists calling for internationally negotiated coordination of macroeconomic policies. Most of them work for international organisations or have developed a special interest in discretionary macro-policy or optimal-control theory.

At the same time, very little centralised coordination has actually taken place. Exchange rate surveillance by the International Monetary Fund does not seem to have played a major role. The economic summit meetings are not used to coordinate macro-policy any longer. Even the first Bonn Summit (1978), the apparent showpiece of centralised coordination, does not seem to have yielded internationally negotiated macroeconomic policy concessions from national governments, but rather enabled their leaders to pursue their domestic objectives against strong internal opposition.

Type
PART ONE: Theoretical Contributions
Information
Recherches Économiques de Louvain/ Louvain Economic Review , Volume 51 , Issue 3-4 , December 1985 , pp. 223 - 240
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de recherches économiques et sociales 1985 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

This article draws to some extent on my 1983 essay and replies to its critics.

References

REFERENCES

Bean, C.R. (1985), The Case for Coordination: Theory and History, Recherches Economiques de Louvain, this volume.Google Scholar
Brittain, B. (1977), Tests of Theories of Exchange Rate Determination, Journal of Finance, 32, pp. 519–29.Google Scholar
Brunner, K., Cukierman, A., Meltzer, A.H. (1983), Money and Economic Activity, Inventories and Business Cycles, Journal of Monetary Economics, 11, 281–319.Google Scholar
Cooper, R.N. (1967), The Economics of Interdependence, Economic Policy in the Atlantic Community, New York, Toronto, London.Google Scholar
Cooper, R.N. (1969), Macroeconomic Policy Adjustment in Interdependent Economies, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 83, pp. 1–24.Google Scholar
Cooper, R.N. (1984), Economic Interdependence and Coordination of Economic Policies, in Jones, R., Kenen, P.B. (eds.), Handbook of International Economics, Vol. 2, Amsterdam, pp. 1195–1234.Google Scholar
Cooper, R.N. (1985), Panel Discussion: The Prospects for International Economic Policy Coordination, in Buiter, W.H., Marston, R.C. (eds.), International Economic Policy Coordination, Cambridge, pp. 366–372.Google Scholar
Corden, W.M. (1977), The Coordination of Stabilization Policies Among Countries, in Ando, A., Herring, R., Marston, R. (eds.), International Aspects of Stabilization Policies, Boston.Google Scholar
Corden, W.M. (1983), The Logic of the International Monetary Non-System, in Machlup, F., Fels, G., Müller-Groeling, H. (eds.), Reflections on a Troubled World Economy, London, Basingstoke, pp. 59–74.Google Scholar
Corden, W.M. (1985), On Transmission and Coordination under Flexible Exchange Rates, in Buiter, W.H., Marston, R.C. (eds.), International Economic Policy Coordination, Cambridge, pp. 8–24.Google Scholar
Currie, D., Levine, P., (1985), Macroeconomic Policy Design in an Interdependent World, in Buiter, W.H., Marston, R.C. (eds.), International Economic Policy Coordination, Cambridge, pp. 228–268.Google Scholar
De Grauwe, P. (1985), Should the UK Join the European Monetary System?, in House of Commons, Treasury and Civil Service Committee, The Financial and Economic Consequences of UK Membership of the European Communities, Memoranda on the European Monetary System, London, HMSO, pp. 5–11.Google Scholar
Eichengreen, B. (1985), International Policy Coordination in Historical Perspective: A View from the Interwar Years, in Buiter, W.H., Marston, R.C. (eds.), International Economic Policy Coordination, Cambridge, pp. 139–178.Google Scholar
Engerman, S. (1965), Regional Aspects of Stabilization Policy, in Musgrave, R. (ed.), Essays in Fiscal Federalism, Washington, pp. 7–62.Google Scholar
Feldstein, M. (1983), Signs of Recovery, The Economist, June 11, 1983, pp. 87–92.Google Scholar
Hallett, A.J.H., (1984), Policy Design in Interdependent Economies: The Case for Coordinating US and EEC Policies, mimeo, Erasmus University Rotterdam, University of Warwick, June.Google Scholar
Hamada, K. (1974), Alternative Exchange Rate Systems and the Interdependence of Monetary Policies, in Aliber, R.Z. (ed.), National Monetary Policies and the International Financial System, Chicago, London, pp. 13–33.Google Scholar
Hamada, K. (1976), A Strategic Analysis of Monetary Interdependence, Journal of Political Economy, 84, pp. 677–700.Google Scholar
Hamada, K. (1977), On the Political Economy of Monetary Integration. A Public Economics Approach, in Aliber, R.Z. (ed.), The Political Economy of Monetary Reform, London, Basingstoke, pp. 13–31.Google Scholar
Hamada, K. (1979), Macroeconomic Strategy and Coordination under Alternative Exchange Rates, in Dornbusch, R., Frenkel, J.A., (eds.), International Economic Policy, Baltimore, London, pp. 292–324.Google Scholar
Hamada, K., Sakurai, M. (1978), International Transmission of Stagflation Under Fixed and Flexible Exchange Rates, Journal of Political Economy, 86, pp. 877–95.Google Scholar
Head, J.G. (1962), Public Goods and Public Policy, Public Finance, 17, pp. 197–219.Google Scholar
Hirschman, A.O. (1970), Exit, Voice and Loyalty, Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
Kindleberger, C.P. (1978), Dominance and Leadership in the International Economy: Exploitation, Public Goods, and Free Rides, in Hommage à François Perroux, Grenoble, Vol. 1, pp. 283–291.Google Scholar
Lindbeck, A. (1979), International Coordination of National Economic Policies. A. Commentary, in Katz, S.I. (ed.), U.S. — European Monetary Relations, American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C., pp. 223–230.Google Scholar
Ludlow, P. (1982), The Making of the European Monetary System, London, Boston.Google Scholar
Marris, S. (1984), Managing the World Economy: Will We Ever Learn? Essays in International Finance, 155, Princeton University, October.Google Scholar
Mckean, R.N. (1958), Efficiency in Government through Systems Analysis, New York.Google Scholar
Miller, M., Salmon, M. (1985), Policy Coordination and Dynamic Games, in Buiter, W.H., Marston, R.C. (eds.), International Economic Policy Coordination, Cambridge, pp. 184–213.Google Scholar
Niehans, J. (1968), Monetary and Fiscal Policies in Open Economies under Fixed Exchange Rates: An Optimizing Approach, Journal of Political Economy, 76, pp. 893–920.Google Scholar
Oates, W.F. (1972), Fiscal Federalism, New York, Chicago, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Oudiz, G. (1985), European Policy Coordination: An Evaluation, Recherches Economiques de Louvain, this volume.Google Scholar
Oudiz, G., Sachs, J. (1984), Macroeconomic Policy Coordination among the Industrial Economies, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, no. 1, pp. 1–64.Google Scholar
Oudiz, G., Sachs, J. (1985), International Policy Coordination in Dynamic Macroeconomic Models, in Buiter, W.H., Marston, R.C. (eds.), International Economic Policy Coordination, Cambridge, pp. 184–213.Google Scholar
Patrick, J.D. (1973), Establishing Convergent Decentralised Policy Assignment, Journal of International Economics, 3, pp. 37–51.Google Scholar
Pauly, P. (1985), International Policy Coordination: An Exercise in Asymmetry, mimeo, University of Pennsylvania, April.Google Scholar
Putnam, R.D. (1983), The Western Economic Summits: A Political Interpretation, in Merlini, C. (ed.), Economic Summits and Western Decision Making, London, Canberra, pp. 43–88.Google Scholar
Putnam, R.D., Bayne, N. (1984), Hanging Together. The Seven Power Summits, Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
Rogoff, K. (1985), Can International Monetary Policy Cooperation Be Counterproductive? Journal of International Economics, 18, pp. 199–217.Google Scholar
Sachs, J. (1983), International Policy Coordination in a Dynamic Macroeconomic Model, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper, 1166.Google Scholar
Sachs, J., Mckibbin, W. (1985), Macroeconomic Policies in the OECD and the LDC External Adjustment, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper, 1534.Google Scholar
Salin, P. (1984), Monetary Europe Today: A Cartel of Central Banks, in Salin, P. (ed.), Currency Competition and Monetary Union, The Hague, Boston, Lancaster, pp. 196–214.Google Scholar
Scitovsky, T. (1954), Two Concepts of Externality, Journal of Political Economy, 62, pp. 143–151.Google Scholar
Stein, H. (1978), International Coordination of Domestic Economic Policies, The AEI Economist, American Enterprise Institute, Washington, June.Google Scholar
Steinherr, A. (1984), Konvergenz und Koordinierung Makroökonomischer Politiken: Einige Grundlegende Fragen, Europäische Wirtschaft, Commission of the European Communities, Brussels, 20, July, pp. 71–116 (also available in English and French).Google Scholar
Taylor, J.B. (1984), International Coordination in the Design of Macroeconomic Policy Rules, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper, 1506.Google Scholar
Tullock, G. (1970), Private Wants, Public Means, New York, London.Google Scholar
Turner, P. (1984), Interdependent Monetary Policies in a Two Country Model, University of Southampton, Discussion Paper in Economics and Econometrics, 8401.Google Scholar
Vaubel, R. (1978a), Strategies for Currency Unification. The Economics of Currency Competition and the Case for a European Parallel Currency, Kieler Studien, 156, Tuebingen.Google Scholar
Vaubel, R. (1978b), The Money Supply in Europe: Why EMS May Make Inflation Worse, Euromoney, December, pp. 139–142.Google Scholar
Vaubel, R. (1980a), International Shifts in the Demand for Money, their Effects on Exchange Rates and Price Levels, and their Implications for the Preannouncement of Monetary Expansion, Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, 116, pp. 1–44.Google Scholar
Vaubel, R. (1980b), The Return to the New European Monetary System: Objectives, Incentives, Perspectives, in Brunner, K., Meltzer, A.H. (eds.), Monetary Institutions and the Policy Process, Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, 13, Amsterdam, pp. 173–223.Google Scholar
Vaubel, R. (1983), Coordination or Competition among National Macro-economic Policies? in Machlup, Fritz, Fels, G., Müller-Groeling, H. (eds.), Reflections on a Troubled World Economy, London, Basingstoke, pp. 3–28.Google Scholar
Vaubel, R. (1985), A Public-Choice Approach to International Organisation, mimeo, University of Mannheim, April.Google Scholar
Vaubel, R. and Members of the Conference (1985), International Economic Coordination: The Way out? in Hinshaw, R. (id).), World Recovery without Inflation?, Baltimore, London, pp. 71–107.Google Scholar
Viner, J. (1932), Cost Curves and Supply Curves, Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie, 3, pp; 23–46; reprinted in Stigler, G.J., Boulding, K.E. (eds.), Readings in Price Theory, London 1953, pp. 198–232.Google Scholar
von Hayek, F.A. (1960), The Constitution of Liberty, London, Henley.Google Scholar
von Hayek, F.A. (1968), Der Wettbewerb als Entdeckungsverfahren, Institut für Weltwirtschaft, Kiel, Kieler Vorträge, N.R. 55.Google Scholar
von Hayek, F.A. (1976a), Choice in Currency. A Way to Stop Inflation, Institute of Economic Affairs, London, Occasional Papers, 48, February.Google Scholar
Walter, N. (1972), Europäische Währungsintegration : Kartell-Lösung versus Eurowährung, Die Weltwirtschaft, no. 1, pp. 41–51.Google Scholar
Willett, T.D. (1984), Macroeconomic Policy Coordination Issues under Flexible Exchange Rates, Ordo, 35, pp. 137–149.Google Scholar
Williamson, O., Teece, D.J. (1979), European Economic and Political Integration: The Markets and Hierarchies Approach, paper presented at the Colloquium on New Economic Approaches to the Study of International Integration, Florence, May/June.Google Scholar
Wyplosz, C. (1983), Comment on Vaubel’s Paper, presented at the Seminar on US-EC Trade Relations, Leuven, March.Google Scholar