The paper compares fiscal cyclicality across regions and countries from 1960 to 2016. It finds that more than half of 170 countries analyzed in seven regions had, in more recent years, limited fiscal space, and that their fiscal policy was either cyclical or procyclical. This was particularly...

Using the indexes we developed (Aizenman, Chinn, and Ito, 2008) to measure the degree of the three policy choices countries make with respect to the trilemma: exchange rate stability, monetary independence, and capital account openness, we investigate the normative questions pertaining to the...

We develop a methodology that intuitively characterizes the choices countries have made with respect to the trilemma during the post Bretton-Woods period. The paper first outlines the new metrics for measuring the degree of exchange rate flexibility, monetary independence, and capital account...

The policy Trilemma (the ability to accomplish only two policy objectives out of financial integration, exchange rate stability and monetary autonomy) remains a valid macroeconomic framework. The financial globalization during 1990s-2000s reduced the weighted average of exchange rate stability...

The policy Trilemma (the ability to accomplish only two out of three policy objectives -financial integration, exchange rate stability and monetary autonomy) continues to be a valid macroeconomic framework. The financial globalization during 1990s-2000s reduced the weighted average of exchange...

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...