Emerging market countries have enjoyed an exceptionally favorable economic environment throughout 2004, 2005, and early 2006. In particular, accommodative U.S. monetary policy in recent years has helped create an environment of low interest rates in international capital markets. However, if...

Intro -- Contents -- I. INTRODUCTION -- II. INTEREST RATES AND BUSINESS CYCLES -- III. THE GLOBAL ECONOMY MODEL WITH THE FINANCIAL ACCELERATOR -- IV. THE EFFECTS OF A 1 PERCENT U.S. INTEREST RATE HIKE -- V. A REPEAT OF THE GLOBAL BOND MARKET ROUT OF 1994? -- VI. WHAT ROLE FOR MONETARY POLICY? --...

We argue that in an economy with downward nominal wage rigidity, the output gap is negative on average. Because it is more difficult to cut wages than to increase them, firms reduce employment more during downturns than they increase employment during expansions. This is demonstrated in a simple...

Cross-country differences in economic resilience-in an economy's ability to withstand and adjust to shocks-remain significant in the euro area. In part, the differences reflect the lack of a national nominal exchange rate as a mechanism to adjust to shocks. The IMF staff has argued that...