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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Economics

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Economics Department Working Paper Series

Balance of payments

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Mmt And Policy Assignment In An Open Economy Context: Simplicity Is Useful, Oversimpliflication Not So Much, Arslan Razmi Jan 2022

Mmt And Policy Assignment In An Open Economy Context: Simplicity Is Useful, Oversimpliflication Not So Much, Arslan Razmi

Economics Department Working Paper Series

Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) has recently received significant attention in academic and policy circles. Critics question the sustainability of MMT-prescribed approaches to fiscal and monetary policy, especially over extended periods of time, in the presence of international financial markets, and for developing country governments that borrow in foreign currency. I formalize some of these arguments using a dynamic, open economy, Tobin-Markowitz portfolio balance environment that takes into account: (1) the role of expectations in the foreign exchange market and the feedback mechanisms between these and the exchange rate and inflation, and (2) interactions between the current account, debt accumulation, and …


Politics-Driven Exchange Rate Cycles: East Asia Vs. Latin America, Arslan Razmi Jan 2018

Politics-Driven Exchange Rate Cycles: East Asia Vs. Latin America, Arslan Razmi

Economics Department Working Paper Series

I develop the implications for real exchange rate cycles of different policy preferences, focusing in particular on broadly stylized features of major Latin American and East Asian economies. Recent political science literature has emphasized the role of factors such as the influence of the manufacturing sector and the nature of labor markets. I formalize some of these insights in a developing country framework with policy makers who inter-temporally optimize and voters/audiences that are incompletely informed. Given the choice between assigning greater weight to immediate worker purchasing power versus generating manufacturing employment and income over time, I show that countries where …


Real Exchange Rates And The Long-Run Effects Of Aggregate Demand In Economies With Underemployment, Peter Skott, Martin Rapetti, Arslan Razmi Apr 2012

Real Exchange Rates And The Long-Run Effects Of Aggregate Demand In Economies With Underemployment, Peter Skott, Martin Rapetti, Arslan Razmi

Economics Department Working Paper Series

Successful economic development to a large extent derives from the mobilization of underemployed resources. Demand policy can play an important role. It is critical, however, to consider balance of payments constraints and to ensure an expansion of investment in the modern sector. A combination of investment promotion and exchange rate intervention may be required to achieve these goals.


The Effects Of Export-Oriented, Fdi-Friendly Policies On The Balance Of Payments In A Developing Economy: A General Equilibrium Investigation, Arslan Razmi Jan 2005

The Effects Of Export-Oriented, Fdi-Friendly Policies On The Balance Of Payments In A Developing Economy: A General Equilibrium Investigation, Arslan Razmi

Economics Department Working Paper Series

Many developing countries have adopted investor-friendly policies in recent years in order to attract export-oriented foreign direct investment (FDI). The effects of these policies on the external accounts have been largely ignored. This paper endogenizes FDI inflows in a structuralist general equilibrium framework to contribute towards filling this gap. Our economy consists of: (i) a non-tradable goods sector and (ii) an export processing zone (EPZ) that hosts transnational corporations. The analysis finds that, contrary to widely-shared perceptions, the short-run effects of FDI-friendly policies on the balance of payments may frequently be negative due to the nature of both the investments …