This paper investigates the behaviour of the volatility of returns in bond and stock markets for a sample of eight countries using very long samples of data. Volatility has been high during episodes of economic and political turbulence, in particular during the interwar period. Moreover,...

Securitisation can transform ordinarily illiquid or risky assets into more liquid or less risky ones. Despite the recent rapid growth of securitisation, the Latin American market remains in its infancy, as reflected in the size and type of assets involved in transactions. Because of its...

Emerging and mature financial markets are more integrated today than at any time since the First World War. Net capital flows to emerging markets have yet to return to the levels of the mid-1990s and remain significantly below those reached a century ago. However, cross-border flows provide an...