Comparing the global performance of alternative exchange arrangements

This paper presents and applies a methodology useful for studying the operating characteristics of a number of alternative monetary arrangements using a large-scale simulation model of the world economy. We consider the performance of the regimes when policymakers do or do not observe the shocks, and when policymakers infer the shocks using an optimal filtering rule. Although the results are model specific and at best illustrative of the issues involved, the approach does have the advantage of providing a richer framework of analysis than is possible in simple models of international interdependence.