In the wake of the Mexican and Asian currency turmoil, the subject of financial crises has come to the forefront of academic and policy discussions. This paper analyzes the links between banking and currency crises. We find that: problems in the banking sector typically precede a currency...

In this paper, we analyze the extent to which past financial crises share common characteristics in Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. We examine the recent crises in Asia and in Latin America, in particular their severity, to assess whether the considerable historical differences...

Capital inflows can be a mixed blessing, especially in economies with thin domestic financial markets and when driven by investors with a short-term focus. Many levers of policy can be applied to resist the effects of the inflows. One that has been widely relied upon has been currency...

In this paper, we analyze the extent to which past financial crises share common characteristics in Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. We examine the recent crises in Asia and in Latin America, in particular their severity, to assess whether the considerable historical differences...

In the wake of the Mexican and Asian currency turmoil, the subject of financial crises has come to the forefront of academic and policy discussions. This paper analyzes the links between banking and currency crises. We find that: problems in the banking sector typically precede a currency...

Capital inflows can be a mixed blessing, especially in economies with thin domestic financial markets and when driven by investors with a short-term focus. Many levers of policy can be applied to resist the effects of the inflows. One that has been widely relied upon has been currency...

Theory suggests that corporate and sovereign bonds are fundamentally different, also because sovereign debt has no bankruptcy mechanism and is hard to enforce. We show empirically that the two assets are more similar than you think, at least when it comes to high-yield bonds over the past 20...

During the past decade a number of countries imposed capital controls that had two distinguishing features: they were asymmetric, in that they were designed principally to discourage capital inflows, and they were temporary. This paper studies formally the consequences of these policies,...

Africa lags behind other regions in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI). In some circumstances, there are obvious explanations for the absence of FDI, such as a high incidence of war. In this paper, we examine the role that monetary and exchange rate policy may have played in explaining...

This paper examines the argument for a G-3 exchange rate target zone strictly from an emerging market perspective. A commitment to damping G-3 exchange rate fluctuations, however, requires a willingness on the part of G-3 authorities to use domestic monetary policy to that end. Under a system of...