A natural resource based export boom can increase overall national wealth and improve a country's balance of payments position, but leave some sectors in a protracted and costly adjustment process. This phenomenon is known as "Dutch disease", a term associated with the difficulties experienced...

We examine how financial expansion and contraction cycles affect the broader economy through their impact on real economic sectors in a panel of countries over 1960-2005. Periods of accelerated growth of the financial sector are more likely to be followed by abrupt financial contractions than...