The costs and benefits of two exchange-rate regimes: the case of Ireland before and after entry to the E.M.S.

One of the central policy debates in the international monetry arena continues to be that of the relative merits of fixed exchange rates, floating exchange rates, and comprimises between them. This debate has proceeded at two levels. On the one hand, some of the arguments in the fixed/floating debate have concentrated on the purely international consequences of one or other exchange rate regime. Thus it has frequently been disputed, for example, whether or not flexible exchange rates have a built in inflationary bias...