The paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the full dollarization option and offers a few stylized facts and conclusions regarding the effects of full dollarization. On one hand, a full-dollarized economy delivers an impressive inflation performance and may even reduce the impact of...

In this paper we study the question of debt sustainability from a risk management perspective. The debt accumulation equation for any country involves variables that are stochastic and closely intertwined. When these aspects are taken into consideration the notion of debt sustainability is...

In light of the market microstructure literature, we have compared the two main FX markets in Brazil: the spot market and the futures market (the next to mature contract). Our objective is to identify in which market FX rate is determined. We analyze FX markets at its micro level: its...

Starting with Lehman Brother’s demise in September 2008, the Brazilian real fell 42% vis-à-vis the US dollar. Such large exchange rate depreciation would typically cheer exporters up. However, it was later found that many export firms, including multibillion dollar ones, had suffered large...

We analyze the impact of the controls and restrictions on capital inflows that Brazil has adopted since late 2009. We document that these measures had some success in segmenting the Brazilian and global financial markets, as measured by wedges between onshore and offshore prices of similar fixed...

We analyze the unique intervention strategy of the BCB using DNDFs (Domestic-Non-Deliverable Forwards): currency forwards that settle in domestic currency. We show the mechanisms through which DNDFs provide efficient hedging instruments for economic agents in times of reduced capital inflows and...

Brazilian Foreign Exchange (FX) markets have a unique structure: most trades are conducted in the derivatives (futures) market. We study price discovery in the FX markets in Brazil and indicate which market (spot or futures) adjusts more quickly to the arrival of new information. We find that...