The second column calculates Big Mac PPPs by dividing the local currency price by the American price. For instance, in Japan Big Mac costs¥22. Dividing this by the American price of$2.90 produces a dollar PPP against the yen of Y90, compared with its current rate of Y113, suggesting
The economic emergence of a fixed exchange rate periphery in Asia has reestablished the United States as the center country in the Bretton Woods international monetary system. We argue that the normal evolution of the international monetary system involves the emergence of a periphery for which the development strategy is export-led growth supported by undervalued exchange rates
For many years a huge Manila garbage dump known as Smokey Mountain was a favorite media symbol of Third World poverty. Several thousand men, women, and children lived on that dump--enduring the stench, the flies, and the toxic waste in order to make a living combing the garbage for scrap metal and other recyclables. And they lived there voluntarily, because the $10 or so
From The Economist print edition Why the dollar still rules the world-and why the world should be grateful THE dollar is looking vulnerable. It is propped up not by the strength of America's exports, but by vast imports of capital. America, a country already rich in capital, has to borrow from abroad almost
Fred bergsten explains why policymakers need to act now in order to avert the danger of serious damage to the world economy FIVE major risks threaten the world economy. Three centre on the United States: renewed sharp increases in the current-account deficit leading to a crash of the dollar; a budget profile that is out of control; and an outbreak of trade protectionism a fourth relates to China which faces a possible hard landing from its recent overheating The fifth is that oil prices could rise to $60-70 per barrel even without a major political or terrorist disruption, and much higher with one