Certain growth-promoting policies can have negative side-effects by increasing the vulnerability of economies to financial crises. Typical examples are greater openness to financial flows or more liberalised financial markets. This paper investigates whether the growth benefits of policy reforms...

It is not easy to untangle the logic that in the past led to creation of the European Monetary Union (EMU) and that is currently guiding the prevailing Eurozone (EZ) policies. Although lacking the right institutions, which can be seen as the ultimate root of its crisis, the ten years of the EMU...

Several studies have suggested that the prediction of standard theory on the effects of monetary policy on the exchange rate might not be applicable to or in the case of the Republic of Korea because participation of foreign investors is weak in the bond market but strong in the stock market....

Tokyo's bid to ascend to the very top tier of international financial centers (IFCs) was ultimately unsuccessful. This paper argues that to overcome the large disadvantages of being a latecomer, the IFC goal must be elevated above other competing objectives so that the necessary intermediate...

This paper develops a model of the circumstances under which it is beneficial to participate in a currency area. The proposed two-country monetary model of trade with nominal rigidities encompasses the real and monetary arguments suggested by the optimum currency area literature: correlation of...

This paper studies the role of exit from a monetary union during a debt crisis. A monetary union, such as the European Monetary Union, needs to establish a procedure for exit as a tool to cope with debt default. The paper studies various forms of exit and argues that "Euroization" is both a...

This paper analyzes current stresses in the two key areas that concerned the architects of the original Bretton Woods system: international liquidity and exchange rate management. Despite radical changes since World War II in the market context for liquidity and exchange rate concerns, they...

This paper analyzes current stresses in the two key areas that concerned the architects of the original Bretton Woods system: international liquidity and exchange rate management. Despite radical changes since World War II in the market context for liquidity and exchange rate concerns, they...

This paper argues that if policymakers seek to enhance global liquidity, then the international community must provide a higher and better coordinated level of fiscal support than it has in the past. Loans to troubled sovereigns or financial institutions imply a credit risk that ultimately must...

This paper provides an evaluation on the global reserve currency status of U.S. dollar and the debates on reserve currencies. This evaluation involves the examination of some quantitative data concerning the economic facts of the leading countries, the currency composition of foreign exchange...