Download or read book Trade and Investment Performance Under Floating Exchange Rates written by International Monetary Fund and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 1988-05-03 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contrary to the arguments of several scholars, we have failed to find either a conclusive theoretical case or clear empirical evidence of an effect, harmful or otherwise, of exchange rate variability (as measured by either short-term volatility or long-run misalignment) on overall levels of international trade. In this paper, after reviewing the theories and evidence on this issue, we go on to consider the impact of exchange rate variability on direct foreign investment. We summarize and amplify upon the scant theoretical literature of this issue, and proceed to test U.S. data for the presence of such an impact. We find none.