Given the precarious balance of payments and debt situation, unrecorded flows of capital cause serious welfare losses. In order to formulate realistic policies, it is essential to have a knowledgeable account of such flows. Using different methodologies, the present paper estimates illicit...

This paper specifies a model in which we investigate the interrelationship of economic growth, electricity consumption and foreign direct investment. We find that foreign direct investment and electricity consumption are only cointegrated when GDP is the dependent variable. With respect to...

This paper attempts to resolve the Feldstein-Horioka puzzle represented by the contradiction between the casual observation that capital mobility has reached a high level and the empirical evidence indicating the contrary by showing high saving ¬investment correlations. Three lines of enquiry...

Arguments are put forward to challenge the case for a trade war between the U.S. and China. The threat of a trade war against China is based on three pillars: (i) the Chinese currency is undervalued, (ii) undervaluation of the yuan is the cause of and cure for the U.S. massive trade deficit, and...

Focusing on the 1992-93 crisis of the European Monetary System (Ems), I stress, in opposition with the conclusions reached by “escape clause” models, the role played by the availability of foreign reserves. In particular, I show the lack of credibility of the Bundesbank’s commitment to...

This study empirically investigates the role of trade policy along with physical capital, human capital and labour force on economic growth in an isolated economy (i.e. North Cyprus). We use a sample of quarterly and seasonally adjusted data covering the period 1978Q1-2002Q4 to evaluate whether...

The paper critically considers the endogenous Optimum Currency Areas (or e-OCAs) theory, focussing initially on early studies having identified a relevant link between the creation of a monetary union and an upgrading of trade intensity between member countries, on the one hand, and the increase...

In this paper we investigate the skirmishes that the US dollar and the euro had from 2007 to 2011 and, in particular, the two distinct sharp falls that the single currency had in 2008 and 2010. We basically consider how impulses coming from domestic money markets impact on the USD/EUR exchange...

The increased heterogeneity of the European market after the prospective joining of the acceding countries to EMU could imperil the latter’s stability. It is widely expected that following enlargement the optimality conditions of the eurozone will decrease, implying a more difficult...

This paper empirically investigates the effect of returns in the US on the returns in Colombia during the period between the Black Friday and the Mortgage Crisis. Monthly data is used. A new method that is robust to non-normality and time-varying volatility is applied. Our empirical findings...