Commentary on 'International Dimensions of Monetary Policy: Coordination Versus Autonomy'

the key policy problems that confront the industrial countries as they enter the last decade of the twentieth century. Out of their experience as theorists, analysts, and policy advisers, the three authors offer a number of judgments about the manage-ment of policy instruments among countries with varying degrees of mutual interdependence. I find myself in whole-hearted agreement with most of the judgments that are put forth in the paper. I shall, therefore, confine my comments mainly to one topic, among the many that are covered, on which I differ with the.authors. That is the role of fiscal policy in macroeconomic management and, therefore, also in policy coordination. I shall not discuss what FGM have,to say about exchange rate guidelines in the plausible belief that John Williamson will focus on that subject