External Imbalance and Policy Constraints in the 1990s.

• Author: Van Zyl, Helena

This book is a collection of the papers read at the annual conference of the International Economics Study Group (ISEG) at the University of Nottingham in 1992. The theme of the conference was based on one of the most important economic problems of the century, namely the debt crisis of the early eighties. The central theme of the conference was constructed on the fact that the nineties inherited the debt overhang of the eighties. As a result, countries across a wide front are characterized by large imbalances on their balances of payments. This causes limitations to the proper execution of national and international economic policies, but on the other hand it is a challenge to find solutions for this in an attempt to ensure prosperity in world context.

The book consists of two distinctive sections. In chapters two and three a survey is given of the rules of the game in the environment in which imbalances develop on the current accounts of countries. The question concerning the establishment of objectives for a current account as element of macro-economic management is dealt with, as well as the cost and advantages of monetary arrangements such as the European Monetary System (EMS) for macro-economic stability. Chapters four to eleven contain perspectives on aspects of handling imbalance situations on the current accounts of countries, namely (1) the experience of the UK; (2) the relationship between the USA and Japan and the international flow of current account financing between the G7 economies as a whole; and (3) the external positions of selected developing and semi-industrialized countries.

The global problem dealt with in this book concerns the...