Starting in the mid 1970s, Chile implemented a deep and comprehensive set of structural market reforms. In spite of the wide agreement there is with respect to the benefits these reforms should have on growth, little evidence has been provided to empirically establish and to quantify this...

In this paper we empirically study bank-client relationships using a sample of Chilean manufacturing firms. We examine whether concentration and the duration of bank-firm relationships affect the volume of bank lending. Our results indicate that lower concentration, measured by the number of...

The per capita growth rate of Chile from 1984 to 1997 was among the highest in the world. During recent years, however, per capita growth dropped significantly. This paper discusses the role of factor accumulation and the efficiency with which factors are used, measured as total factor...

Chile and Mexico experienced severe economic crises in the early 1980s. This paper analyzes four possible explanations for why Chile recovered much faster than did Mexico. Comparing data from the two countries allows us to rule out a monetarist explanation, an explanation based on falls in real...

RBC models have been successful when applied to developed economies: their abilities in replicating the data of emerging countries remain largely unexplored. The rapid but unstable growth process in developing countries and their relatively less developed market structure pose a formidable...

In this paper we analyze the macroeconomic record of dollarized economies. In particular, we investigate whether, as its supporters’ claim, dollarization is associated with lower inflation and faster growth. We analyze this issue by using a matching estimator technique developed in the...

This paper deals with the relationship between inflation targeting and exchange rates. I address three specific issues: first, I analyze the effectiveness of nominal exchange rates as shock absorbers in countries with inflation targeting. This issue is closely related to the magnitude of the...

The purpose of this paper is to analyze empirically the importance of inflationary persistence in a group of sixteen advanced and developing countries. We do this by studying, in great detail, the time series properties of inflation using both univariate as well as multivariate techniques. We...