Since the end of World War II, Argentina has been through an uninterrupted series of financial/fiscal and monetary crises that have gradually eroded the credibilityof the economic institutions of the country. In the period from 1970 to 1990 alone, the Argentine economy experienced seven currency...

This paper reviews the nature of central bank involvement in 26 episodes of financial disturbance and crises in Latin America from the mid-1990s onwards. It finds that, except in a handful of cases, large amounts of central bank money were used to cope with large and small crises alike. Pouring...

The objective of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it identifies and categorizes the currency crises suffered by Argentina from 1825 to 2002. Secondly, it looks for regularities in the behaviour of key macroeconomic variables in the neighbourhood of crises by means of graphic analysis,...

This paper focuses on monetary and exchange rate policies in Colombia, with particular emphasis on the period 1999-2002, when flotation of the peso and inflation targeting were adopted. We argue, first, in favor of adopting quot;operational inflation target rangesquot; and, second, in favor of...

We describe Peru's experience of chronic inflation through the 1970s and 1980s as a result of the need for inflationary taxation in a regime of fiscal dominance of monetary policy. Hyperinflation occurred when further debt accumulation became unavailable, and a populist administration engaged in...

Spanish Abstract: Un aspecto invariable de las discusiones sobre banca central es el de su independencia relativa para cumplir con sus funciones tradicionales de estabilización monetaria. En el caso de Colombia, dicha controversia ha hecho parte de las iniciativas de reforma del Banco de la...

This paper provides a brief historical journey of central banking in Latin America to shed light on the debate about monetary policy in the post-global financial crisis period. The paper distinguishes three periods in Latin America's central bank history: the early years, when central banks...

During the global financial crisis, many central banks in advanced economies engaged in credit easing. These policies have been perceived as largely successful in reducing stress in financial markets, thus avoiding larger output losses. In this paper, we study empirically whether credit easing...

The objective of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it identifies and categorizes the currency crises suffered by Argentina from 1825 to 2002. Secondly, it looks for regularities in the behaviour of key macroeconomic variables in the neighbourhood of crises by means of graphic analysis,...

The Mexican banking crisis of 1994/95 necessitated a major government rescue operation - estimated to have cost about 20 per cent of GDP. Since then, financial sector reforms have been implemented and the performance of the Mexican financial system has markedly improved, as shown by indicators...