Financial systems are inherently fragile because of the very function which makes them valuable: liquidity transformation. Thus regulatory reforms, as urgent and desirable as they are, will definitely strengthen the financial system and decrease the risk of liquidity crises, but they will never...

This paper discusses the institutional aspects and the empirical evidence in favor of the hypothesis that fixed exchange rate regimes work asymmetrically, with one country providing the nominal anchor for the whole system. I derive the observable implications of the 'asymmetry' hypothesis using...

This paper discusses a model corporate tax system based on the application of the residence principle. This tax system, while preserving national sovereignties, minimizes the distortions arising from international capital mobility. The paper is motivated by an analysis of European capital income...

This paper analyses, from a public-finance perspective, the theoretical underpinnings and the empirical relevance of the phenomenon of financial repression. The analysis explicitly accounts for the interaction between capital controls and financial repression. The proposed empirical estimate of...

Recent empirical work indicates that, in a variety of financial markets, both conditional expectations and conditional variances of asset returns are time-varying. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether these joint fluctuations of conditional first and second moments are consistent...

This paper reviews the extensive theoretical and empirical literature on currency substitution. After discussing the ambiguity surrounding the definition of currency substitution, the paper illustrates the causes of substitutability of different currencies using a cash-in-advance model and a...

The stability of the EMS depends crucially on the realignment expectations of market participants. In this paper we discuss how to measure such expectations and how to relate them to economic fundamentals, central bank reputation, and the institutional arrangements of the EMS. We find the...

In recent years the theory of rules and discretion in monetary policy has fascinated academic economists and policy-makers alike. This paper asks whether it can be applied to an understanding of the history of the world monetary system, by focusing on the establishment and the operation of the...

This paper studies monetary policy games in a two-period Mundell-Fleming model, under a regime of managed exchange rates. A regime of managed exchange rates is defined as one where exchange rates are pegged but bilateral parities can be changed from time to time. The paper argues that such a...

This paper studies the effects of prohibiting individuals from holding foreign assets, and of allowing firms to trade in foreign assets only up to what is needed to finance export and import activities. Although firms can perform arbitrage between domestic and foreign financial markets, this...