The Economics of International Payments Unions and Clearing Houses

International payments unions and clearing houses have been employed by 88 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean to liberalise regional trade and payments during the past 50 years. Yet, their impact on participating countries has not been well understood. When the republics of the former Soviet Union were deciding on new monetary regimes, many economists proposed a payments union but could not estimate its potential benefits or risks. This book presents the first fully articulated theory of international payments unions and clearing houses in order to answer the questions: When should a country choose to participate in a payments union? What benefits and costs have actually resulted from existing and past clearing houses? When should countries in a clearing house seek to form a payments union?

Inhalt
Acknowledgements - List of Abbreviations - Introduction - PART 1: THE THEORY OF REGIONAL PAYMENTS ARRANGEMENTS - Clearing Arrangements in Domestic and International Payments Systems - The Structure of Regional Payments Arrangements - The Effects of a Clearing Union: A Benchmark Model - The Effects of a Payments Union: A Stochastic Analysis - The Impact of Payments Unions on Economic Growth - PART 2: MEASURING THE IMPACT OF REGIONAL PAYMENTS ARRANGEMENTS - Measuring Savings of International Reserves - Measuring the Effects of RPAs on Trade Creation and Economic Growth - PART 3: THE EUROPEAN PAYMENTS UNION, 1950-8 - The European Payments Union and Western European Recovery, 1945-59 - Intra-OEEC Trade Liberalization and EPU Reserve Savings - The Impact of the EPU on OEEC Regional Trade - The Impact of the EPU on Income and Economic Growth - PART 4: THE RECIPROCAL PAYMENTS AND CREDITS SYSTEMS IN LATIN AMERICA - RPCS Structure, Operations, and Impact - The Benefits and Risks of a Latin American Payments Union - Conclusions - Appendix A: The Standard Normal Distribution - Appendix B: Impact of RPCS Operations by Member Country, 1966-91 - Bibliography - Index