If a country does not improve its fiscal policy, a fixed-rate system may simply store up trouble.

ECONOMIST: Exchange rates

That manipulated, pegged, or fixed-rate system worked well in the early postwar years when there was apparently an unlimited demand for dollar reserves, which we were happy to provide to the world in the form of external deficits.

FORBES: Currency Manipulation

Like any fixed exchange-rate system, a currency board offers the prospect of a stable exchange rate, which can promote both trade and investment.

ECONOMIST: The ABC of a currency board

The balance of payments and exchange rates were making news, and the slow break-up of the Bretton Woods fixed-exchange rate system was under way.

FORBES: Farewell to James Parthemos (Richmond Fed Research Director)

The country's current foreign-exchange system, which involves a fixed "official" exchange rate that makes the currency, the kyat, more than 100 times as valuable against the dollar as the black-market rate, is so confusing that many foreign companies have refused to re-enter the country even if Western leaders ease sanctions against Myanmar, the country also known as Burma, as expected later this year.

WSJ: Myanmar Announces Currency Reform