Milton Friedman argued that flexible exchange rates would facilitate external adjustment. Recent studies find surprisingly little robust evidence that they do. We argue that this is because they use composite (or aggregate) exchange rate regime classifications, which often mask very heterogeneous bilateral relationships between countries. Constructing a novel dataset of bilateral exchange rate regimes that differentiates by the degree of exchange rate flexibility, as well as by direct and indirect exchange rate relationships, for 181 countries over 1980–2011, we find a significant and empirically robust relationship between exchange rate flexibility and the speed of external adjustment. Our results are supported by several “natural experiments” of exogenous changes in bilateral exchange rate regimes.

Milton Friedman argued that flexible exchange rates would facilitate external adjustment. Recent studies find surprisingly little robust evidence that they do. We argue that this is because they use composite (or aggregate) exchange rate regime classifications, which often mask very heterogeneous bilateral relationships between countries. Constructing a novel dataset of bilateral exchange rate regimes that differentiates by the degree of exchange rate flexibility, as well as by direct and indirect exchange rate relationships, for 181 countries over 1980–2011, we find a significant and empirically robust relationship between exchange rate flexibility and the speed of external adjustment. Our results are supported by several “natural experiments” of exogenous changes in bilateral exchange rate regimes.

MeKenzie Barber Redux is the story of a reunion of McKenzie Barber (an acquired consulting firm) and Robson Barber (the acquiring firm.) It has been five years following the 1992 merger vote held at the Boca Mirage Club. The merger resulted in capsized careers for many McKenzie Barber Partners and advancements for a select few. John Grunwaldyt, the protagonist, has been a casualty. Since the merger he has been in the Litigation "Penalty Box" flopped in the backwaters of the merged firm's Chemical Industries Practice, left his wife and moved in with a lady named Amanda, a media communications consultant, and his career is in limbo short of vesting in the firm's retirement plan. One of the youngest partner admissions in the history of the firm at age 28, his golden boy career, appears to have landed in a permanent ditch. He is summoned to the office of Dr. Gilbert Ranglinger, Vice Chairman-Human Resources for Robson Barber for an early morning meeting. Dr.Ranglinger's nickname in the corridors of Robson Barber is "Dr. Death". Grunwaldyt assumes he has been summoned to commence termination discussions. Instead Dr. Death proposes that Grunwaldyt organize a Reunion for the McKenzie Barber Partners. He is given the choice, organize the reunion or begin termination discussions. Jon Grunwaldyt begins an odyssey that confronts his past, faces the options of a cloudy future, and leads to a confrontation in the final fork in his career road, a McKenzie Barber Alumni Reunion at the resort hotel called Boca Mirage.

The recent economic crisis in the United States has highlighted a crisis of understanding. In this volume, Bradley C. S. Watson and Joseph Postell bring together some of America's most eminent thinkers on political economy—an increasingly overlooked field wherein political ideas and economic theories mutually inform each other. Only through a restoration of political economy can we reconnect economics to the human good. Economics as a discipline deals with the production and distribution of goods and services. Yet the study of economics can-indeed must—be employed in our striving for the best possible political order and way of life. Economic thinkers and political actors need once again to consider how the Constitution and basic principles of our government might give direction and discipline to our thinking about economic theories, and to the economic policies we choose to implement. The contributors are experts in economic history, and the history of economic ideas. They address basic themes of political economy, theoretical and practical: from the relationship between natural law and economics, to how our Founding Fathers approached economics, to questions of banking and monetary policy. Their insights will serve as trusty guides to future generations, as well as to our own.

Robert Fritzsch provides an institutional economic analysis of the Great Recession. The author shows that institutions matter as determinants of crisis resilience - however in a different way than predicted by the prominent theories of Olson (1982) and North, Wallis, Weingast (2009), as the crisis was most severe in developed countries with democratic political institutions, rule of law and restrained regulations. The empirical results support theoretical predictions only within the sub-group of developed countries, where rule of law and restrained regulations show a positive association with crisis resilience.

This book investigates the strengths and weaknesses – in terms of transparency and compliance with the democratic principle – of Bretton Woods Institutions, considering the most important innovations from the original framework achieved through the introduction of independent accountability and complaint mechanisms (the Inspection Panel and Independent Evaluation Office), but also due to relevant reforms in the internal governance of the International Monetary Fund and the new financial assistance tools. One of its main focuses is on evaluating the socio-economic impact of conditionality in the countries requiring financial assistance, acknowledging the need to strengthen social protection policies in the adjustment programs. In addition, emphasis is given to the effects of the “constitutionalization” of the Washington Consensus in the European Union, with the establishment of the so-called “Berlin-Brussels-Frankfurt Consensus.”