Traditional models have encountered problems in explaining the ac- cumulation of international reserves, particularly in Asia, in the period since the late 1990s. One suggestion has been that countries have sought to self insure against future crises, either because of a perceived increase in...

In seeking to make programs of economic reform supported by the IFIs more successful it is important to ensure that they are viable. Will governments be persuaded to participate? Will they complete the programs they negotiate? And will the IFIs be prepared to provide the resources? This paper...

Over the course of the 1990s economists appeared to favour exchange rate regimes that were either completely flexible or rigidly fixed through mechanisms such as currency boards. According to this "bipolar" view of exchange rates, intermediate regimes were deemed to be ineffective and prone to...

In this paper, we examine the stability of international macroeconomic policies of developing countries in the post-Bretton Woods period. We use the simple geometry of the classic, open-economy trilemma to construct a new, univariate measure of inter- national macroeconomic policy stability, and...

The International Monetary Fund’s structure and rules are based on the quota system that was constructed when the Fund was set up in 1946. Quotas affect contributions and resource availability at the Fund, access to resources, the distribution of Special Drawing Rights, and voting rights....

Claims have been made that capital account crisis (CAC) countries are discernibly different in terms of the characteristics that lead them to borrow from the IMF. This paper tests these claims. It uses a conventional model of IMF lending to estimate the probability of countries having an IMF...

Increasing attention is being paid to IMF governance, and the structure and size of the Fund’s lending operations. However, less interest has been shown in the array of lending windows through which the IMF makes resources available. There have nonetheless been clear trends over recent years...

Recent theoretical and empirical research suggests that under certain conditions IMF agreements induce additional inflows of finance from other private sources. This paper provides new empirical evidence on this catalytic effect using a treatment effects model to correct for selectivity. It...

Issues surrounding exchange rates continue to fascinate both economists and political scientists. Although a relatively large literature has grown around attempting to explain the choice of exchange rate regime, empirical estimation has failed to find a generally satisfactory explanation of it....

The eurozone crisis has focused attention on what caused it, how it can be handled and what can be done to avoid future crises. Against this background all but two member states of the European Union have signed a draft treaty, the 'fiscal compact', that seeks to eliminate structural fiscal...