Central bank reserves have increased at an extraordinary pace and to unprecedented levels. The high concentration of reserve holdings by currency exposes the international monetary system to significant idiosyncratic risks and represents a source of systemic risk for overall international...

We study the curious patterns of gold holding and trading by central banks during 1979–2010. With the exception of several discrete step adjustments, central banks keep maintaining passive stocks of gold, independently of the patterns of the real price of gold. We also observe the...

In recent years a number of countries have introduced currency boards (CB). The new generation currency boards, which is gaining swing and popularity, preserves to different degrees the central bank's ability to perform the lender of last resort function (LOLR) and leaves room for intervention...

Following the Great Recession, eurozone countries have performed worse than even the currency union’s most pessimistic critics had predicted. The paper identifies the strong fundamental flaws in the design of the eurozone and proposes a set of reforms, both in the structure of the eurozone and...

The replacement of national currencies by a common currency in the EMU causes a monetary externality if the European Central Bank is inclined to monetize part of outstanding government debt in the community.High government debt in one part of the EU then increases the common inflation rate.We...

We study the transmission of monetary policy from the United States to Canada under flexible exchange rates. Our results suggest that flexible exchange rates insulate a country from foreign monetary disturbances. We find that the direct effect of a monetary contraction in the U.S. is a small...

The paper addresses the issue of the role of exchange rate jumps. The short-run dynamics of the peseta's effective exchange rate vis-a- vis OECD countries over the period 1974:1 - 1995:9 is estimated using a PPP-based error-correction model enlarged with additional terms allowing for the...

This paper sets up a simple model for interventions and interest rate setting assuming that the policy maker cares about deviations in inflation from a target level. Under a quadratic cost of interest rate adjustments and interventions the policy maker should use a combination of interest rate...

The paper addresses the issue of the role of exchange rate jumps. The short-run dynamics of the peseta's effective exchange rate vis-a- vis OECD countries over the period 1974:1 - 1995:9 is estimated using a PPP-based error-correction model enlarged with additional terms allowing for the...

This paper traces the evolution of the Federal Reserve and its engagement with the global economy over the last three decades of the 20th century: 1970 to 2000. The paper examines the Federal Reserve’s role in international economic and financial policy and analysis covering four areas: the...