After analysing the evolution of exports from the large Latin American countries over the last decade, and examining on a case by case basis the determinants for each country's performance, this study concludes that competitiveness in the manufacturing sectors of most countries in the region...

The financial crisis of 2007–08 has drawn the attention of regulators and market participants to the severe consequences of pro-cyclicality in the financial system. While this had already been a concern during preparations for the introduction of Basel II, it seems that much still needs to be...

This paper analyzes empirically what explains the low profitability of Chinese banks for the period 1997-2004. We find that better capitalized banks tend to be more profitable. The same is true for banks with a relatively larger share of deposits and for more X-efficient banks. In addition, a...

This paper sets out a political economy model of strategic exchange rates, focusing in the importance of external lobbying. Applying it for the recent history of the Japanese yen, we show that pressure from the U.S. trade negotiators contributed to an appreciation of the Japanese yen, as well as...

We analyze empirically whether trade and financial linkages between two countries increase the synchronization of their business cycles directly or indirectly. In a system of equations, we use a newly processed database on the bilateral linkages of a small open economy, namely Spain. We prefer...

The rapid rise of trade in part of components –in the context of an increasingly important global production chain – is a key future of Asia's economic miracle. This paper aims at analyzing empirically what are key determinants of trade in parts and components. The focus is Latin America and...

Chinese official statistics may be distorted by the presence of stop-over destinations such as Hong Kong and offshore centers in the Caribbean. In this paper we recalculate these flows in a way which accounts for these distortions, estimating the actual magnitude and distribution of China's ODI...

Central bank communication is becoming a key aspect of monetary policy. How much financial markets listen and, possibly, understand Banco de Mexico's communication on its monetary policy stance should be a key consideration for the central bank to further modernize its monetary policy toolkit....

In this paper we empirically examine the extent and properties of production sharing in Latin and North America as well as that in East Asia. In 2006, exports of parts and components from Latin and North America constituted 29.7% of the region’s exports of manufactured goods to the world. Both...

In this paper we review the key facts in the history of the International Monetary System in the 20th century to analyze the stability of what some authors have called “Bretton Woods II”, which describes the current fixed-exchange rate and export-led growth model of some Asian countries,...