We examine deviations from the law of one price (LOP) with price data from duty-free outlets where each product, at a given location, has its price quoted in (at least) two currencies. Reluctance to adjust relative prices for "small" deviations from LOP allows prices to differ by up to 7-10...

The paper tests whether there were events of contagion, and portfolio shift, in the sovereign bond markets of eleven emerging countries' between January 1995 and November 2001. From existing definitions, we narrow down the concept of contagion by focusing on pricing errors, after general market...

The recent wave of financial crises has fueled the debate on the effect of IFIs intervention on governments' incentives to undertake reforms. In this paper we treat this intervention more generally as a country insurance contract, and examine its implications in a stylized set-up. More...

The paper analyses whether, and to what extent, emerging market economies (EMEs) have systemic importance for global financial markets, above and beyond their influence during crises episodes. Using a novel database of exogenous economic and political shocks for 14 EMEs, we find that EME shocks...

This paper examines the relationship between the valuation of the stock market and an effective exchange rate. We use monthly data on 10 industrialized countries for the period 1973-1996. We find that the more open the economy, the stronger is the (positive) relationship between return on the...

The growth effects of international financial liberalization and integration are investigated using the methodology and data developed by Rajan and Zingales (1998). The main result is that industries highly dependent on external financing do not experience higher growth in value added in...

We analyze optimal ï¬scal,monetary and exchange rate policy in a simple small open econonomy model with price setting frictions.We perform our analysis in the tradition of optimal dynamic Ramsey problems.We characterize optimal allocations and the government policies that implement the optimal...

In this paper we introduce the STAR-STGARCH model that can characterize nonlinear behaviour both in the conditional mean and the conditional variance. A modelling cycle for this family of models, consisting of specification, estimation, and evaluation stages is constructed. Misspecification...

This paper investigates empirically whether there is a negative relationship between a country's risk premium and the balance sheet effect, as implied by recent theories emphasizing financial imperfections. We find evidence that balance sheet effects, stemming from the increase in the external...

Exchange rates in Latin America display a large volatility, constitute a central element of the policy strategies and their evolution have an important impact on financial stability due to the dollarization of liabilities which most countries exhibit. However, assessments on equilibrium exchange...