Does Russia Need a Currency Board?

Date Published:

Abstract:

This paper analyzes the recently revived idea of introducing a currency board in Russia. It takes a negative view of that idea. The characteristics of the country make a currency board a poor arrangement for Russia on purely economic grounds. The considerations of political economy suggest that an independent and rule–bound monetary authority might provide benefits that outweigh the disadvantages of rigid monetary arrangements in certain circumstances, but it is exactly in those circumstances that the independence of a monetary authority and its ability to follow the rules will be very much in question.

Notes:

Kliouev, Vladimir. "Does Russia Need a Currency Board?" Working Paper 98–15, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, December 1998.