STABILIZATION POLICIES IN AN OPEN ECONOMY UNDER ALTERNATIVE EXCHANGE RATE AND WAGE RATE CONDITIONS

This thesis examines how the various instruments of monetary and fiscal policy work in the presence of fixed and flexible exchange rates. Based on the pioneering work of Mundell and Fleming, the traditional view assigns fiscal policy as being highly suitable for a fixed exchange rate regime, while stimulative monetary policy is effective in raising output under floating exchange rates. Once the implicit assumptions of constant prices and wages are relaxed, the conclusions of the original model no longer hold. With the introduction of wage indexation as a mean to adjust nominal wages to changes in the price level, the initial results of policies of the Mundell-Fleming type are reversed. Finally, it was examined how the practical implications of policy actions of the United States and West Germany could be applied to the theoretical models.