We address the issue of modeling spot electricity prices with regime switching models. After reviewing the stylized facts about power markets we propose and fit various models to spot prices from the Nordic power exchange. Afterwards we assess their performance by comparing simulated and market...

Suppose an altruistic person, A, is willing to transfer resources to a second person, B, if B comes upon hard times. If B anticipates that A will act in this manner, B will save too little from both agents' point of view. This is the Samaritan's dilemma. The logic of the dilemma has been...

This paper models aid agencies as financial intermediaries that do not make a financial return to depositors, since the depositors' concern is to transfer resources to investor-beneficiaries. This leads to a significant problem of verification of the agencies' activities. One solution to this...

The paper distinguishes between the classic or traditional foreign banks with their emphasis on corporate and wholesale banking, and the innovators responding to transition, deregulation or crisis in emerging markets. The innovators come in three varieties—bettors, prospectors and...

This paper examines the relevance of the monetary approach for exchange rate behaviour in India, unde rthe managed float regime. It finds supprot for purchaisng power parity in traded goods and that the monetary approach provdies a reasonable description of exchange rate behaviour in the period...

This paper tests for mean-reversion in real exchange rates for India during the recent (managed) float period yield evidence of mean- reversion in the real exchange rate series constructed with the consumer price index as deflator as well as for a series constructed using the ratio of wholesale...

This paper employs new estimates of US currency held abroad to determine the degree of unofficial or de facto dollarization that has taken place in key countries around the world. Empirical estimates of foreign currency in circulation permits refined definitions of unofficial dollarization...

This paper examines the optimal frequency of monetary policy meetings when their schedule is pre-announced. Our contribution is twofold. First, we show that in the standard New Keynesian framework infrequent but periodic revision of monetary policy may be desirable even when there are no...

The paper reviews the recent conduct of monetary policy and the central bank’s rule-based behavior in Russia. Using different policy rules, we test whether the central bank in Russia reacts to changes in inflation, output gap and the exchange rate in a consistent and predictable manner. Our...