Can devaluations and exchange controls be co-ordinated at the regional or global level, to lessen their beggar-thy-neighbour character? Probably not without co-ordination mechanisms among monetary and fiscal authorities like the ones found in the EU. How precisely the mechanisms may apply to CEFTA, ASEAN or Mercosul remains to be thoroughly investigated. The claim of this paper is that there does not seem to be a better perspective that the one defended here.

Over and above the parallels between the 1997-99 emerging markets crisis and the Mexican devaluation of December 1994, the lessons from the crises in the ERM may thus be helpful in designing a new international financial architecture. In effect, the crises were overcome by the ERM code of conduct. With the experience gathered during the first year of the euro, a new code of conduct may be developing, which acknowledges the importance of international banking supervision, including better risk management along the lines proposed ...