International policy efforts to strengthen financial systems have highlighted the role of liquidity. This paper explores a framework to assess arrangements for market liquidity and lays out elements of systemic liquidity policy. Robust arrangements for liquidity provide confidence to market...

The International Monetary Fund was designed during World War II by men whose worldview had been shaped by the Great War and the Great Depression. Their views on how the postwar international monetary system should function were also shaped by their economics training and their nationalities....

This paper examines challenges in effectively implementing the lender-of-last-resort function in the EU single financial market. Briefly highlighted are features of the EU financial landscape that could increase EU systemic financial risk. Briefly described are the complexities of the EU's...

What determines the currency to which countries peg or "anchor" their exchange rate? Data for over 100 countries between 1980 and 1998 reveal that trade network externalities are a key determinant. This implies that anchor currency choice may well be suboptimal in that certain currencies, e.g.,...

Using a critical analysis of the acquired data, this article mainly aims to present the currency composition of the foreign currency reserves of central banks in selected countries in the 1999-2007 period and, on this basis, to establish whether the euro stands any real chances of dethroning the...

As globalization continues, businesses are increasingly importing and exporting from countries with different currencies. To conduct that business, they must pay fees for exchanging one currency for another and they must determine the exchange rate for a particular time. If the transaction is to...

In December 1995, the European Council, metting in Madrid, confirmed "unequivocally" that the third and final stage of economic and monetary union (EMU) will begin on January 1, 1999. The Council chose "euro" as the name of the new single currency and adopted a timetable for decisions and...

There is a broad consensus that the current, large U.S. current-account deficits financed with foreign capital inflows at low interest rates cannot continue forever; there is much less consensus on when the system is likely to end and how badly it will end. The paper resurrects the basic...

On October 24, 2003, SUERF celebrated its 40th anniversary in the Galerie Dorée of the Banque de France with an especially high level and rich seminar. The memorable occasion was further elevated by Jean Claude Trichet giving the tenth SUERF Annual Lecture in his last public speech as Governor...

This paper examines whether the international role of the dollar as main global reserve currency has contributed to persistent current account imbalances. To this end, we analyse how central banks' accumulation of reserve assets affects the current account balance of both reserve-accumulating...