The course begins with background material concerning interest rates, capitalization theory, exchange market intervention, interest rate and purchasing power parity, indexed debt, and the transmission of monetary policy, From there we look at the interactions of multiple monies over time, Kondratieff's 19th century price deflations, the Great Depression, and demise of the gold standard, the breakdown of Bretton Woods and the 1979 revolution in monetary policy. A central concern is whether the current levels of international debt are sustainable. The course then examines the international financial upheavals starting with the Mexican devaluation of '95, the '98 slowdown from the '97 Asian Crisis , the meltdown following the '98 Russian default and devaluation , current monetary policy , international debt , IMF structural adjustment programs , exchange rate regimes, the evolution and value of unbacked fiat currency, deflationary waves , currency areas, parallel currencies, and alternative monetary systems.
Most readings can be downloaded from the net, other readings are on reserve .
Study questions from the senior undergraduate course in International Finance are recommended. And for printing, the Netscape version is largely unreadable but the Explorer version is clear. IMF Burden Sharing .