Economists have long debated the relative merits of fixed versus flexible exchange rate systems. One of the major issues in this debate concerns the ability of the exchange rate system to isolate a nation from external disturbances: see for example, papers by Mundell (1960), Stern (1963), Tower and Courtney (1974), and Enders (1977), Fischer , (1977) added another dimension to the controversy by examining the relative stability of real consumption and prices, assuming that the economy is subject to stochastic disturbances. His principle conclusion for the small open economy is that if disturbances are . external, then a flexible exchange rate regime is better in that foreign disturbances have no impact on the domestic economy.