The debate over the effectiveness of monetary policy often centers around the benefits of low interest rates as a stimulus for the real economy. The idea is that low interest rates encourage spending either in the form of consumption or investment and this promotes employment and production. The ...

The proper estimation of distress dependence amongst the banks in a system is key to monitoring the stability of the banking system. Financial supervisors recognize the importance of assessing not only the risk of distress i.e. large losses and possible defaults by a specific bank but also the impact ...

In the last decade the prices of nonrenewable resources which constitute a critical source of fiscal revenue in many Latin American and Caribbean countries recorded sharp swings correlated with economic growth developments in the world and in the region. Similar episodes in the past led to boom and ...

The Global Financial Crisis put to the fore the challenges of managing liquidity and foreign assets at times of heightened volatility. Earlier concerns of some observers regarding the costs of precautionary hoarding notwithstanding the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) validated the buffer value of ...

Large negative aggregate demand shocks can drive down an economy’s equilibrium real interest rate and if the central bank is committed to stabilizing inflation monetary policy may be hampered by the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates –the economy may be in a 'liquidity trap.' The policy dilemma ...

Events in financial markets before and during the crisis of late 2008 have stimulated renewed interest in modeling trade with asymmetric information. Robert Shimer’s contribution to this volume joins the literature focusing on trade in securities that are claims on mortgages where issuers of the ...

The global environment for emerging market economy (EME) bond markets has changed dramatically over the past few decades. Local currency bond markets (LCBMs) have developed especially in EMEs with low inflation stronger institutions and well defined creditor rights (see Burger and Warnock 2003 2006 ...

Sudden stops are when capital inflows dry up abruptly. The banker’s aphorism—'It’s not speed that kills but the sudden stop'— has been popularly invoked since at least the Mexican crisis in 1994. Awareness then rose with impetus from the Argentine crisis (1995) the Asian crisis (1997) the Russian ...

The vulnerability of a national economy to volatility in the global markets for credit, currencies, commodities, and other assets has become a central concern of policymakers. The responsibility for managing these risks at the national level is often given to the central bank. However, the conventional ...

The financial crisis that unraveled after the Lehman Brothers collapse affected in different degrees almost all countries around the world independently of the direct exposure of their financial institutions to toxic assets. Most countries saw a sharp drop in demand together with sudden increases in ...