We analyse the effectiveness of exchange rate interventions for a panel of 18 emerging market economies during the period 2003-11. Using an error-correction model approach, we find that on average intervention is effective in moving the real exchange rate in the desired direction, controlling...

Dollarization : a primer / Eduardo Levy Yeyati and Federico Sturzenegger -- Dollarization : analytical issues / Roberto Chang and Andrés Velasco -- Using balance sheet data to identify sovereign default and devaluation risk / Pablo Andrés Neumeyer and Juan Pablo Nicolini -- Dollarization and...

As usual in this series, Chapter 1 reviews the configuration of global risks and assesses the outstanding short term opportunities and challenges facing the LAC region. We document the significant slowdown in economic activity across the region, and explore the possibility of this being the 'new...

Recent studies that have emphasized that the costs of accumulating reserves for self-insurance purposes have overlooked two potentially important side effects. First, the impact of the resulting lower spreads on the service costs of the stock of sovereign debt, which could substantially reduce...

Why should countries buy expensive catastrophe insurance? Abstracting from risk aversion or hedging motives, this paper shows that catastrophe insurance may have a catalytic role on external finance. Such effect is particularly strong in those middle-income countries that face financial...