Israel’s monetary policy framework is broadly sound. Inflation targeting was introduced in the early 1990s, and low single-digit inflation was established by the end of the decade. However, fast transmission from the exchange rate to inflation means the operational challenges differ somewhat...

Shadow banking, an informal, largely unregulated, financial market, has become increasingly important in China because the fact that it is largely unregulated can threaten the viability of the financial system. This study discusses various issues involved in Chinese shadow banking, including the...

The aim of this paper is to provide a measure of the relationship between employment and output growth in Italy and to illustrate its dynamics across a relatively extended time-span (1970-2004). Given the well-known and persisting regional differences of labour market performance and dynamics in...

Purpose – The latest generation of research into macroeconomic policy has turned from more technical aspects of optimal control and expectations formation to consideration of the policymaking institutions themselves. More and more countries have moved towards greater degrees of central bank...

This paper presents an analysis of the 2007-2010 Global Financial Crisis which started with the sub-prime crisis in the U.S. and became global very fast. It argues that the financial system in the United States is a complex interlocking structure of markets, institutions and regulators. The...

The characteristics that distinguish most developing countries, compared to large industrialized countries, include: greater exposure to supply shocks in general and trade volatility in particular, procyclicality of both domestic fiscal policy and international finance, lower credibility with...

The G-8 Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) is the next step of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC). There are two reasons why MDRI is unlikely to help poor countries. First, the amount of money at stake is trivial. The roughly $2 billion of annual debt payments to be...

The paper estimates financial wealth and saving rates that Italian workers should have in order to enjoy incomes after retirement equal to 80% of their previous wages. Relevant variables are: the rate of growth of wages; interest rates; the pension contribution rate; and the ratio of the number...

Israel’s monetary policy framework is broadly sound. Inflation targeting was introduced in the early 1990s, and low single-digit inflation was established by the end of the decade. However, fast transmission from the exchange rate to inflation means the operational challenges differ somewhat...