Books: Winter, 2003
Managing Currency Crises in Emerging Markets
University of Chicago Press,
Order Department,
11030 South Langley Avenue,
Chicago, IL 60628-2215; (800) 621 2736.
Managing Currency Crises in Emerging Markets, edited by Michael P. Dooley and Jeffrey A. Frankel, is available from the University of Chicago Press for $68.00. The twelve papers, comments, and discussions in this volume analyze currency crises in terms of three phases identified in the book's introduction: the initial attempt to defend the currency; the IMF rescue program; and the impact of the crisis and rescue program on the real economy. This volume serves as a companion to Preventing Currency Crises in Emerging Markets, a thorough and thought-provoking assessment of recent crises.
Dooley is a Research Associate in the NBER's Program on International Finance and Macroeconomics, which Frankel directs, and a professor of economics at the University of California, Santa Clara. Frankel is the James W. Harpel Professor of Capital Formation and Growth at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Economic and Financial Crises in Emerging Market Economies
University of Chicago Press,
Order Department,
11030 South Langley Avenue,
Chicago, IL 60628-2215; (800) 621 2736.
Economic and Financial Crises in Emerging Market Economies, edited by Martin S. Feldstein, is available from the University of Chicago Press for $70.00. This NBER Conference Volume draws together the views of senior officials, business leaders, and academic economists. It includes six non-technical papers, each written by a distinguished economist who is a specialist, on the following issues: exchange rate regimes, financial policies, industrial country policies, IMF stabilization programs, IMF structural programs, and creditor relations. The result presents in one volume both the exceptional "briefing" papers and the personal responses of many of the major players and policymakers who have dealt with these difficult problems.
Feldstein is President of the National Bureau of Economic Research and the George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University.
Scanner Data and Price Indexes
University of Chicago Press,
Order Department,
11030 South Langley Avenue,
Chicago, IL 60628-2215; (800) 621 2736.
Scanner Data and Price Indexes, NBER Studies in Income and Wealth, Volume 64, edited by Robert C. Feenstra and Matthew D. Shapiro, is available from the University of Chicago Press for $75.00.
Every time you buy a can of soup, or a new television set, its bar code is scanned to record the price and other information. These "scanner data" offer a number of attractive features for economists and statisticians, because they are collected continuously, are available quickly, and record prices for all items sold, not just a statistical sample. But scanner data also present a number of difficulties for current statistical systems.
This volume assesses both the promise and the challenges of using scanner data to produce economic statistics. Three papers present the results of work in progress at statistical agencies in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, including a project at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to investigate the feasibility of incorporating scanner data into the monthly Consumer Price Index. Other papers demonstrate the enormous potential of using scanner data to test economic theories and estimate the parameters of economic models, and provide solutions for some of the problems that arise when using scanner data, including dealing with missing data.
Feenstra and Shapiro are Research Associates in the NBER's Program in Productivity. Feenstra is a Professor of Economics at the University of California, Davis. Shapiro is a Professor of Economics at the University of Michigan.
