This tax revenue pattern was replicated in many states whose tax systems peg off the federal system.

WSJ: Red Jahncke: The Federal Revenue Surge Won't Last

The Central Bank of Iraq recently broadened the range of tactics it uses to mop up excess liquidity in the system and maintain the dinar's de facto peg to the dollar, which, given the primitive state of Iraq's financial system, is the best mechanism the bank has to keep prices stable.

ECONOMIST: Struggling to pick up the pieces | The

With the benefit of hindsight, most economists have been critical of the August 2001 deal for Argentina, which simply postponed rather than prevented the collapse of the exchange-rate peg with the dollar and, with it, the country's banking system.

ECONOMIST: America to the rescue? | The