An understanding of volatility in stock markets is important for determining the cost of capital and for assessing investment and leverage decisions as volatility is synonymous with risk. Substantial changes in volatility of financial markets are capable of having significant negative effects on...

This paper presents both the time-series and cross-country evidence on the growth of global equity markets and attempts to shed some light on the sources of equity market growth. Using data on 33 countries, I find that development of financial intermediaries and openness to trade are positively...

Surveys of Australian superannuation funds verify that most international bond holdings, but not equity holdings, are hedged for currency risk. We compare the mean-variance efficiency of this practice with two alternative strategies: a conventional forward hedge; and a selective hedge triggered...

Many observers were surprised by the depreciation of the euro after its launch in 1999. Handicapped by a short sample, explanations tended to appeal to anecdotes and lessons learned from the experiences of other currencies. Now sample sizes are just becoming large enough to permit reasonable...

This paper analyzes the influence of exchange rate regimes on fiscal performance, focusing on the difference between fixed and flexible exchange rates. For these ends, a sample of 83 countries for the 1974-1998 period, the GMM methodology for dynamic proposal panel models proposed by Arellano...

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of exchange rate volatility on exports among 14 Asia Pacific countries, where various measures to raise the intra-region trade are being implemented. The empirical tests using annual data for the period from 1980 to 2002 detect a significant...

Evidence suggests that developing countries are more concerned with stabilizing the nominal exchange rate than developed countries. Some papers show not only that nominal exchange rates are less volatile, but also that international reserves and domestic interest rates are significantly more...

Standard theory of small open economies predicts a smooth path for consumption and investment over time, and procyclical current account balances and employment. This contrasts with the data for emerging countries, where consumption, investment and employment are highly procyclical and volatile,...

The paper presents a three period model that studies the eects of IMF loans on borrowers’ and lenders’ welfare highlighting the fact that the IMF has both de jure and de facto seniority rights over private creditors. It is shown that an IMF intervention affects borrowers and...

An important puzzle in international macroeconomics is the exchange rate disconnect puzzle. Based on recent empirical literature by Mussa (1986), Baxter and Stockman (1989), and Flood and Rose (1995), high exchange rate volatility under floating rates appear not to be related to the high...