In financial and economic policy circles concerned with public debt in developingcountries, a rising debt-GDP ratio is interpreted as a signal of overborrowing, warn-ing of debt defaults if strong fiscal corrections are not adopted in time. This papershows why this interpretation is incorrect by...

The ratios of public debt as a share of GDP of Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico were 12 percentagepoints higher on average during the period 1996-2005 than in the period 1990-1995. CostaRica's debt ratio remained stable but at a high level near 50 percent. Is there reason to beconcerned for the...

We revisit the debt overhang question. We first use non-parametric techniques to isolate a panel of countries on the downward sloping section of a debt Laffer curve. In particular, overhang countries are ones where a threshold level of debt is reached in sample, beyond which (initial) debt ends...

Im vergangenen Jahrzehnt gingen beträchtliche Kapitalströme aus den entwickeltenVolkswirtschaften mit einem starken Kreditwachstum in den Ländern des westlichen Balkans,der Türkei und den GUS einher. Dennoch konnten fast alle Länder der Region – ungeachtetihrer unterschiedlichen...

The paper presents a comprehensive data set of all bonds issued by the sixteenGerman states (Länder) since 1992. It thus provides a complete picture of acapital market comparable in size to funds raised in the German fixed incomemarket for corporations. The quantitative analysis reveals that...

Among the policy responses to the global financial crisis, the international provision of US dollars via central bank swap lines stands out. This paper studies the build-up of stresses on banks' balance sheets that led to this coordinated policy response. Using the BIS international banking...

This paper presents a simple model of risk-averse banks that face uncer-tainty over funding conditions in the money market. It shows when increasedfunding uncertainty causes interest rates on loans and deposits to rise, whilebank lending and bank pro…tability fall. It also …nds that funding...

This paper studies public-debt runs under alternative assumptions on the distribution oftaxes among tax bases, the distribution of debt among classes of taxpayers, and thedistributive preferences of the government. Asymmetries in the distribution of taxes--arising, for example, from income-tax...

This paper explores the relationship between the denomination ofpublic debt and the choice of exchange rate regime. Unlike indexeddomestic debt, foreign debt is subject to valuation e¤ects from realexchange rate shocks. In a standard set-up, where a peg functions onlyas a nominal anchor, more...

The theory of seigniorage is surveyed and reviewed. A theoretical model is developedwhich nests optimal tax theory and institutional approaches to fiscal and monetarypolicy...