ABSTRACT
The large and sustained changes in nominal and real exchange rates were among the most significant developments in the world economy in the 1980s. For example, in the first half of the decade, the US dollar appreciated by about 40 per cent against most other major currencies and then, in the second half of the decade, declined, reversing all the previous appreciation. These changes gave rise to international pressures associated with rapidly changing competitiveness of exports; intervention by central banks in foreign exchange markets; and intense debate regarding the extent to which these exchange rate changes interact with current account imbalances.
