We leverage survey data from emerging and developing Asia to highlight different aspects of household vulnerability to income shocks arising from the Covid-19 pandemic: occupation in Cambodia, self-insurance mechanisms in Nepal, and financial leverage in Vietnam. Occupation and ex-ante income...

The degree of an economy's monetization, which has an important implication on economic growth, can be affected by the conduct of monetary policy, financial sector reform, and episodes of financial crises. The paper finds that monetization--measured by the ratio of broad money to nominal GDP--...

We analyze factors driving persistently higher financial intermediation costs in low-income countries (LICs) relative to emerging market (EMs) country comparators. Using the net interest margin as a proxy for financial intermediation costs at the bank level, we find that within LICs a...

This paper analyzes the monetary policy response to rising inflation in emerging and developing countries associated with the food and oil price shocks in 2007 and the first half of 2008. It reviews inflation developments in a sample of countries covering all regions and a broad range of...

Intro -- Contents -- I. INTRODUCTION -- II. SUDDEN STOPS AND MULTILATERAL INSURANCE -- III. CAPITAL FLOWS AND SUDDEN STOPS -- IV. IMF-SUPPORTED PROGRAMS -- V. MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS -- VI. IMF-SUPPORTED PROGRAMS AND SUDDEN STOPS -- VII. EXTENSIONS -- VIII. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS -- Appendix...

Intro -- Contents -- I. INTRODUCTION AND DATA -- II. UPDATED INDICATORS OF CENTRAL BANK AUTONOMY IN SELECTED OECD COUNTRIES -- III. AUTONOMY INDICATORS FOR EMERGING MARKETS AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES -- IV. PROGRESS TOWARDS AUTONOMY IN EMERGING MARKETS AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES -- V. OVERVIEW OF...

Adoption of technology in the financial services industry (i.e. fintech) has been accelerating in recent years. To systematically and comprehensively assess the extent and progress over time in financial inclusion enabled by technology, we develop a novel digital financial inclusion index. This...