I study an entrepreneur's incentives to build a decentralized platform using a blockchain. The entrepreneur can either build the platform using a regular company and retain control of the platform, or build the platform using a blockchain and surrender control of the platform. In either case,...

This working paper inaugurates the "Technology Fundamentals for Digital Finance" series, concentrating on the technical aspects of financial Digital Assets. The series aims to facilitate the use of a clear terminology in a nascent platform-oriented paradigm of financial infrastructures, by...

Cross-border payments can be slow, expensive, and risky. They are intermediated by counterparties in different jurisdictions which rely on costly trusted relationships to offset the lack of a common settlement asset as well as common rules and governance. In this paper, we present a vision for a...

This study measures the impact of changing economic conditions in OECD countries on tourist arrivals to countries/destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean. A model of utility maximization across labor, consumption of goods and services at home, and consumption of tourism services across...

Shocks stemming from Brazil - the large neighbor in South America - have historically been a source of concern for policy-makers in other countries of the region. This paper studies the importance of Brazil's influence on its neighboring economies, documenting trade linkages over the last two...

This paper documents developments in mortgage credit and the housing sector in Latin America over the past decade, and compares them with those of other emerging economies. In particular, it examines the real estate and mortgage markets to assess whether (i) growth in mortgage credit is...

An increasing number of countries - including in Latin America - are reforming their financial stability frameworks in the aftermath of the financial crisis, in order to establish a stronger macroprudential policy function. This paper analyzes existing arrangements for financial stability in...

The oil price decline creates an opportunity to dismantle energy subsidies, which escalatedwith high oil prices. This paper assesses energy subsidies in Latin America and theCaribbean-about 1.8 percent of GDP in 2011-13 (approximately evenly split betweenfuel and electricity), and about 3.8...

Intro -- Contents -- I. INTRODUCTION -- II. THE FINANCIAL CRISES OF THE 1990S WERE DIFFERENT FROM THOSE OF THE 1980S -- III. DEBT CRISES OF THE 1990S: A TAXONOMY -- IV. CONFIDENCE CRISIS AND CRISIS OF THE FUNDAMENTALS: A THEORETICAL BENCHMARK -- V. OUR POLICY IMPLICATIONS: COLLECTIVE ACTION...

Intro -- Contents -- I. INTRODUCTION -- II. DETERMINANTS OF RELATIVE GROWTH PERFORMANCE -- III. THE IMPORTANCE OF MACROECONOMIC STABILITY -- IV. RECENT PROGRESS TOWARD STABILITY AND SUSTAINED GROWTH -- V. SOME LESSONS AND POLICY CHALLENGES -- REFERENCES.