Latin American economies are exposed to substantial external vulnerability. Domestic imbalances and terms of trade shocks are often exacerbated by sudden financial distress. This paper explores ways of overcoming external vulnerability, drawing lessons from a detailed comparison of the response...

This paper uses a 'new open economy macroeconomics' model to study the effect of a productivity shock on exchange rate dynamics. The special features of the model are that households' preferences exhibit a 'catching up with the Joneses' effect and that international financial markets are...

Results of empirical research have revealed a characteristic hump-shaped effect of monetary policy shocks on output: the effect builds to a peak after several months and then gradually dies out. We analyze, in the context of a "new open economy macroeconomics" model, factors that imply a hump-...

This paper uses a dynamic general equilibrium optimizing two-country model to analyze how the formation of exchange rate expectations shapes the effects of monetary policy shocks in open economies. The model implies that the short-run output effects of permanent monetary policy shocks diminish...

This paper uses a dynamic general equilibrium two-country optimizing model to analyze the consequences of international capital mobility for the effects of monetary policy in open economies. The model shows that the difference between the short-run output effects of monetary policy shocks in a...

In most instances, the dynamic response of monetary and other policies to shocks is infrequent and lumpy. The same holds for the microeconomic response of some of the most important economic variables, such as investment, labor demand, and prices. We show that the standard practice of estimating...