Devaluation expectations and speculative attacks on the currency

Abstract

There is general agreement that a regime of fixed exchange rates can be sustained only if domestic economic policy is consistent with it. An excessively expansive monetary policy, for instance, leads to the depletion of foreign reserves, eventually forcing the central bank to either devalue the currency or allow it to float. However, speculative attacks on the currency have typically been preceded by a change in the foreign exchange target.