How competitive is the UK economy? Is it capable of responding successfully to shocks emanating from abroad? The five case studies prepared for this volume identify the main problem areas which currently affect the ability of the UK to sustain a competitive international position.

The contributions in this book identify and take up an important problem in international economics -- the split in theoretical and empirical work in international finance and in international trade. This book is unique in attempting to link these two aspects of the international economy together.The eight chapters explore the way exchange rates and international capital movements interact with industrial structure, comparative advantage, and sectoral wage patterns, focusing on results that are valuable to both real and financial analysis in open economies. The principal sources of real-financial linkage discussed throughout the book are structural and intertemporal.In an introductory section, the editors provide an overview of real-financial linkages among open economies and Alan Stockman discusses interactions between goods markets and asset markets. The section on structural sources of real-financial linkages includes chapters by Paul Krugman on pricing to market when the exchange rate changes, Richard Marston on real exchange rates and sectoral productivity growth in the United States and Japan, and Irving Kravis and Robert Lipsey on the assessment of national price levels.A final section on intertemporal sources of real-financial linkages presents an empirical investigation by Michael Hutchison and Charles Pigott into real and financial linkages in the macroeconomic response to budget deficits, and work by Koichi Hamada and Akiyoshi Horiuchi on monetary, financial, and real effects of Yen internationalization.Paul De Grauwe and Bernard de Bellefroid consider long-run exchange rate variability and international trade.

In Evolving Patterns in Global Trade and Finance, Professor Sven W Arndt offers succinct and rigorous explanations of important developments in trade, finance and international monetary relations. Topics include economic and monetary integration, cross-border production networks, and stabilization policy in orthodox and mixed exchange-rate regimes. The theoretical framework developed in this volume provides critical assessments of existing policies and practices, develops theoretical foundations for new and emerging patterns in trade and finance, and evaluates how well economists and policy makers are dealing (or have dealt) with the challenges they face. Readers will find the most in-depth and comprehensive discussion of international production networks ("off-shoring"), a detailed analysis of the implications for US economic stability and policy autonomy of its unorthodox exchange rate regime of fixed and floating rates, and insights into the causes of recent economic and financial turmoil in the global economy.

As the world economy becomes more integrated, products become more globalized. Airplanes, automobiles, computers, watches, and garments are among products whose constituent parts are made all over the world. This volume presents arguments and evidence showing that this process is benign: it raises competitiveness, creates jobs, and enhances economic welfare.