Exchange rate regimes and international business cycles
Résumé
This paper investigates the impact of exchange rate regimes on international business cycles and focuses on the consequences of membership to the European Monetary System. The volatility puzzle uncovered by Baxter and Stockman [1989, Journal of Monetary Economics 23, 377-401] after assessing the consequences of the Bretton Woods system turns out to be a robust stylized fact: real and nominal exchange rates display a higher volatility under floating rates while the variability of macroeconomic quantities remains unchanged across exchange rate regimes. Besides, there is evidence that fixed rates are associated with enhanced comovement in output, consumption and investment. We find that a two-country model, featuring monopolistic competition, pricing-to-market, and price stickiness, captures all of the empirical features of the data but one; namely the stronger output comovement following the transition to fixed rates. © 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.