New book: "Debating China's Exchange Rate Policy"

Given the seemingly endless posts on whether China will revalue or not on other China websites those interested would do well to buy this book.

Debating China's Exchange Rate Policy

edited by Morris Goldstein and Nicholas R. Lardy

China's exchange rate policy has a great impact on the economies of the United States and the rest of the world. This important new book, based on an October 2007 conference looks at this issue in great detail. The book has four sections. The first section assesses progress since China's July 2005 reform of its currency regime, with due attention to China's global current account position, movement of China's real effective exchange rate, the extent of the remaining misalignment of the renminbi (RMB), the roles of market forces and a currency basket in the determination of the RMB exchange rate, and developments in the structure of the foreign exchange market. The second section analyzes how Chinese exchange rate policy reform will affect, and will be affected by, reforms and constraints in other areas of economic policy.The third section delves into the issues raised by China's exchange rate policies for international surveillance of exchange rates and for the timely correction of external payments imbalances.

These issues include the appropriate "rules of the game" for International Monetary Fund (IMF) surveillance over exchange rate policies, the effects of China's exchange rate policies on other Asian emerging economies, and the contribution that US and European policies should make to external adjustment as a counterpart to and inducement for greater exchange rate flexibility in Asia. Finally, the concluding section presents specific proposals for how China's exchange rate and capital account policies might be modified over the medium term.These proposals address how best to eliminate any misalignment of the RMB; how best to reduce pressures emanating from the sterilization of large reserve accumulation; how best to make capital flows the ally - not the enemy - of exchange rate policy; and what institutional arrangements and policy guidelines to put in place to reap the greatest benefits from management of China's large exchange reserves.

Contributors include:

Larry Summers, Jeffrey Frankel, and Ken Rogoff, Harvard University; Simon Johnson and Steve Dunaway, International Monetary Fund; Mohamed El-Erian, Harvard Management Company; William R. Cline, Gary Clyde Hufbauer, Michael Mussa, Edwin M. Truman, and John Williamson, Peterson Institute; Barry Bosworth, Brookings Institution; Takatoshi Ito, University of Tokyo; Stephen Roach, Morgan Stanley; Fan Gang and Jin Zhongxia, People's Bank of China; Eswar Prasad, Cornell University; Shang-Jin Wei, Columbia University; Bert Hofman and Louis Kuijs, World Bank; Yung Chul Park, Seoul University; Jean Pisani-Ferry, Bruegel; Timothy Adams, Lindsey Group; and Brad Setser, Council on Foreign Relations.

A decent selection in anyones book.

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