'Natural Resources: Neither Course nor Destiny' brings together a variety of analytical perspectives, ranging from econometric analyses of economic growth to historical studies of successful development experiences in countries with abundant natural resources. The evidence suggests that natural...

If rating agencies add no new information to markets, their actions are not a public policy concern. But as rating changes may be anticipated, testing whether ratings add value is not straightforward. This paper argues that ratings and spreads are both noisy signals of fundamentals and suggest...

Este papel de trabajo estudia como los diferentes esquemas impositivos afectan el comportamiento de las empresas explotadoras de recursos naturales, y los incentivos que el gobierno tiene en renegociar dichos contratos. Estos aspectos son importantes, porque en la mayoría de los países en los...

'Natural Resources: Neither Course nor Destiny' brings together a variety of analytical perspectives, ranging from econometric analyses of economic growth to historical studies of successful development experiences in countries with abundant natural resources. The evidence suggests that natural...

El presente estudio versa sobre el establecimiento de un fondo de estabilización del precio del petróleo que mitigue el impacto del aumento en el precio internacional del crudo sobre las economías del istmo centroamericano y República Dominicana. La significativa escalada en los precios...

El presente estudio versa sobre el establecimiento de un fondo de estabilización del precio del petróleo que mitigue el impacto del aumento en el precio internacional del crudo sobre las economías del istmo centroamericano y República Dominicana. La significativa escalada en los precios...

In this paper we argue that the main difference between the crises is their degree of anticipation. In particular the Asian crises was widely unanticipated, while the Argentinean and Brazil crises were anticipated.

This paper analyzes bond and stock markets in Latin America and uses these patterns to investigate whether contagion occurred in the 1990's. It defines shift-contagion' as a significant increase in cross-market linkages after a shock to one country or region. Several coin-toss examples and a...

The availability of micro pricing data has produced an empirical revolution in macroeconomics. Two events were the main culprits: First, nation statistical offices allowed economists to study the data underlying the construction of the CPI, letting our profession the chance to tackle many...

The "border effect" literature finds that political borders have a very large impact on relative prices, implicitly adding several thousands of miles to trade. In this paper we show that the standard empirical specification suffers from selection bias, and propose a new methodology based on...