Explain why the European exchange rate mechanism (ERM) ran into problems in the 1990s
What will be an ideal response?
The ERM effectively linked EC exchange rates for two decades. However, problems began in 1990 with Germany's decision to speed up reunification. Economic conditions in East Germany were worse than expected, requiring that Germany make large investments in infrastructure and the environment. This resulted in a very large fiscal stimulus to the German economy. Such large expenditures were expected to have an inflationary impact, and so Germany's central bank raised interest rates to counteract that possibility. High interest rates in Germany made German financial instruments more attractive and caused capital to flow into Germany from the other EU countries. This resulted in the selling of other currencies to buy German marks (and then German bonds) and caused the pound, the franc, and other currencies to fall in value. Other countries could have raised interest rates to match Germany's, but since some of the countries, particularly the United Kingdom, were in recession, this would have been more contractionary to their economies. Faced with the choice between staying in the ERM and harming their own economies or dropping out of the ERM, countries were caught in a dilemma. France stayed in the ERM but went into recession. The United Kingdom abandoned the ERM and let the pound float freely. Spain shifted the center of the band. The band was later widened to 15 percent for countries that remained in the ERM.
You might also like to view...
Refer to Figure 16-2. In the graph above, if the economy is at point A, an appropriate fiscal policy by Congress and the president would be to
A) execute an open market sale of government securities. B) increase marginal income tax rates. C) increase government transfer payments. D) lower the discount rate of interest.
Which of the following is a possible reason for a comparatively steeper demand curve for health care? a. A large increase in the price of health care leads to a more than proportionate fall in the quantity demanded for health care. b. The demand curve for health care is comparatively steeper than other products, because health care is a Giffen good. c. A change in the price of health care
leads to no change in the profit earned by the suppliers. d. A large increase in the income of households leads to a less than proportionate increase in the quantity demanded. e. A large increase in price does not cause a reduction in the purchase of health care by the same proportion.
The ability of a country to produce a good or service at a lower cost than its trading partners is
A. its absolute advantage. B. its comparative advantage. C. both its absolute and comparative advantage. D. neither its absolute nor its comparative advantage.
Individuals economize and respond predictably to
A) negative incentives, but not positive incentives. B) positive incentives, but not negative incentives. C) neither positive or negative incentives. D) both positive and negative incentives.