Although a great deal of attention has been paid to IMF conditionality and to the effects of IMF programmes, relatively little attention has been paid to their completion rate. However, the record is that the clear majority of Fund programmes are uncompleted. Is this a cause for concern and why...

The dilemma facing policymakers is how to combine the instruments they have available in the form of fiscal, monetary and exchange rate policy to achieve the targets of internal and external balance. Shortly before the global economic and financial crisis in 2008 most economies appeared to be...

An economic model is presented of the rise of mortgage arrears and possessions. This indicates that the normal level of possessions is around 30 000 dwellings per year, but that between 1990 and 1996 an additional 300 000 households will exit the owner-occupied housing market. This short-term...

A fundamental cause of the global financial crisis was excessive maturity mismatch, notably shadow banking holdings of sub-prime MBS and other structured credit instruments and cross-border Euro area interbank lending to the uncompetitive Euro area periphery. The costs of short term funding do...

A fundamental cause of the global financial crisis was excessive creation of short-term money-like liabilities (quasi-money), notably in shadow banking holdings of sub-prime MBS and other US dollar structured credit instruments and in cross-border flow of capital to the uncompetitive Euro area...

This article critically examines the analogy between the barcode and the standardization of data and communication in financial services, recounting the history of the barcode and considering what lessons this offers for regulation and management of financial firms. The initial development and...