The behavior of interest rates in major industrial countries affects capital movements and, consequently, exchange rates and trade flows. It can also influence the attitude of policymakers toward the growth of the money supply as well as the cost of servicing the external debt of the developing countries.

The nine studies that comprise the book open up a new and exciting area of research in monetary-fiscal links in both closed and open economies. They integrate the theoretical effects of tax policies on interest rates and demand for money with those on exchange rates and international capital movements and analyze the impact of tax treatments of interest income and expense previling in industrial countries on macroeconomic variables. They deal, therefore, with issues that are of mutual interest to fiscal economists, monetary economists, and specialists in international trade and finance. As interest rates in industrial countries have been higher and more varaible in recent years than at any time over recent decades, these studies should be of interest to both policymakers and academicians.