Whereas most of the literature related to the so-called 'resource curse' tends to emphasize on institutional factors and public policies, in this research we focus on the role of the financial sector, which has been surprisingly overlooked. We find that countries that have financial systems with...

This paper examines the evolving importance of common global components underlying domestic financial conditions. It develops financial conditions indices (FCIs) that make it possible to compare a large set of advanced and emerging market economies. It finds that a common component, 'global...

We study whether clarity of central bank inflation reports affects return volatility in financial markets. We measure clarity of reports by the Czech National Bank, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, and Sveriges Riksbank using the Flesch-Kincaid grade level, a standard readability...

This paper studies changes in Canada''s monetary policy transmission, associated with the important changes in financial structure experienced in the 1990''s, using two methodologies. First, VAR models show a clear break in monetary transmission beginning in 1988, after changes in financial...

Financial sector liberalization, both domestic and in cross-border transactions, was a major force behind the gradual move to indirect controls and the shift toward full reliance on exchange rate targeting in the Netherlands. This paper analyzes the different steps in this process, discusses the...

This paper characterises the jointly optimal monetary and fiscal stabilisation policy in a new Keynesian model that allows for consumers who lacking access to asset markets consume their disposable income each period. With full asset market participation, the optimal policy relies entirely on...

To showcase their increasing focus on financial stability, many central banks and other institutions have started publishing regular reports on financial stability. The paper presents a survey of the available financial stability reports, and proposes a framework for assessing such documents. It...