Japan (or any other country that depends heavily on exports) wants a cheap currency to keep its citizens employed.
For would-be foreign buyers with dollars to spend, the slightly cheaper currency was not nearly enough to offset the higher prices.
Fontaine has regularly dismissed the idea that goals were a cheaper currency in his day.
The crisis quickly wiped out any benefits of the cheaper currency as failing banks stopped lending and corporations couldn't get funding for exports.
The euro-sterling exchange rate This is not just because Germany enjoyed a cheap currency.
That rally was in Brazil's suddenly cheaper currency, the real.
Economists argue that there is a scenario where a cheap new currency would give Greece an economic edge on its competitors.
A cheaper currency makes a nation's products less expensive in other countries.
But many emphasize that the rising prices of their imported raw materials and other factors make it difficult to benefit from the cheaper currency.
In an effort to climb out, all the Asians are trying to use their cheap currencies to increase exports and stoke up growth.