How do conditions in the financial sector affect the macroeconomy? We summarise the common variation in a large array of financial variables into a small set of statistical factors and examine the information content of these factors when forecasting GDP and inflation in four economies. We find...

1. Financial reform in Australia -- 2. Price stabilization, the banking crisis and financial reform in Brazil -- 3. Financial reform in Canada : past, present and future -- 4. Financial system reform in China -- 5. Financial reform in Germany -- 6. Financial reform in Hong Kong -- 7. Financial...

Previous evidence, most recently by Bordo and Jonung (1990) and Silclos (1988b, 1991), has shown on a country-by-country basis that proxies for institutional change significantly improve our understanding of the long-run behaviour of velocity and. consequently, of the demand for money. If...