IN THIS ISSUE...

This issue of the Bulletin ponders the early lessons of the 1997 Asian and Czech exchange rate crises, and reports conference and workshop proceedings on real exchange rates, social inequalities and mobility, the links between product quality, labour productivity and trade in Europe, and regional integration in the context of globalization. Discussion meetings on the options for exchange-rate policy under EMU, reform of the EU's regional policy, the alleged demise of the 'job for life', the reform of pension systems, and East-West trade in Europe are also reported.

Lessons from the Asian Financial Crises
A CEPR conference at the Bank of England brought together a wide range of participants to consider the cause and consequences of the 'Asian flu' phenomenen.

Real Exchange Rates
Academics and central bankers gathered in Vienna to discuss the policy implications of new theoretical and empirical research on the structural explanations for real exchange rates

The Czech Exchange Rate Crisis
A speculative attack on the Czech currency in 1997 forced the abandonment of the fixed exchange rate system in place since 1991. A conference in Prague set out to examine the lessons.

Social Inequalities and Social Mobility
As part of CEPR's research programme on rising inequalities, a workshop in La Coruña, Spain, considered a range of issues relating to the links between social and income mobility, as well as the determinants of inequalities in incomes and employment.

Product Quality, Labour Productivity and Trade
The relationships between European Labour costs and European competitiveness were the subject of a joint CEPR/ZEI workshop in Bonn. Among the questions addressed were high labour costs in some countries threatened a flight from investment, or whether the higher skill and productivity levels gave European firms the edge in producing high quality goods.

Globalization, Regional Integration and Development
The resurgence of regionalism in a multilateral world prompted examination of the relationships between industrial and fiscal policies and regional integration at a Venice workshop.

Discussion Meetings
Recent Discussion Meetings covered the conclusions of a CEPR Occasional Paper on the options for future exchange rate policies under EMU; the requirements for successful reform of the EU's regional policy; a challenge to the conventional wisdom that a 'job for life' is under threat; the lessons from world-wide efforts at systematic pension reform; and the implications of EU enlargement for East-West trade in Europe.

Among Recent Discussion Papers
The optimum methods for, and political sustainability of privatization programmes. The effects of 'endorsement' of political candidates by organized interest groups. The case of using trade policy to back 'winning' firms. The effects of work-sharing experiments. Techniques for extracting useful information from asset prices. Inflation targets versus inflation contracts. Industrial structure, menu costs and the non-neutrality of money. The effects of work-related training.