In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries. Each report, prepared by a staff team after discussions with government officials, is published at the option of the member country

Economic statistics are frequently reported in the form of index numbers. This article considers how the field of Index Numbers should be approached in the teaching of a general economic degree. While the topic finds a natural home in statistics modules, it is emphasised that the area can also...

In this paper we present a new approach to incorporate default dependency in intensity-based default risk models. The model uses an arbitrary default dependency structure which is specified by the Copula of the times of default, this is combined with individual intensity-based models for the...

In this paper a new credit risk model for credit derivatives is presented. The model is based upon the ‘Libor market’ modelling framework for default-free interest rates. We model effective default-free forward rates and effective forward credit spreads as lognormal diffusion processes, and...

This paper gives a simple introduction to portfolio credit risk models of the factor model type. In factor models, the dependence between the individual defaults is driven by a small number of systematic factors. When conditioning on the realisation of these factors the defaults become...

In this paper we present a tree model for defaultable bond prices which can be used for the pricing of credit derivatives. The model is based upon the two-factor Hull-White (1994) model for default-free interest rates, where one of the factors is taken to be the credit spread of the defaultable...

In this paper we examine the problem of partially hedging a given credit risk exposure. We derive hedges which satisfy certain optimality criteria: For a given investment into the hedge they minimize the remaining risk, or vice versa. This is motivated by the fact that it is a core business of...