The current global financial non-system is marked by instability. In the absence of global solutions, a series of regional arrangements of monetary cooperation have been emerging to cope with such instability. The paper focuses on regional payment systems as an initial step of regional monetary...

Die Europäische Währungsunion steckt in einer tiefen Zahlungsbilanzkrise. Privates Kapital fließt imgroßen Stil von den Peripherieländern in die Kernländer. Um den Fortbestand des Euro zugewährleisten treten öffentliche, intergouvernementale Kredite und Target-Kredite der...

Die Europäische Währungsunion steckt in einer tiefen Zahlungsbilanzkrise. Insbesondere Griechenland, Irland, Portugal und Spanien wiesen in der Vergangenheit Leistungsbilanzdefizite auf, die sich bis März 2011 auf 314 Milliarden Euro akkumulierten. Dies entspricht dem Stand der aggregierten...

The ability to accurately estimate the extent to which the failure of a bank disrupts the financial system is very valuable for regulators of the financial system. One important part of the financial system is the interbank payment system. This paper develops a robust measure, SinkRank, that...

This report, commissioned by Sveriges Riksbank, examines the role of currency denomination in international trade transactions. It is divided in two parts. The first part consists of a survey of the price setting and payment practices of a large sample of Swedish exporting firms. The second part...

Central banks analyse issues concerning retail payments - or just payments - to be able to promote optimal means of payment. Over the years, electronic payments - i.e. payments initiated and settled electronically - have gradually replaced manual paper-based payments on the grounds of...

It has recently been argued that intra-eurosystem claims and liabilities in the form of TARGET2 balances would raise fundamental issues within the European monetary union. This article provides a framework for the economic analysis of TARGET2 balances and discusses the key arguments behind this...

The U.S. dollar plays a key role in international trade invoicing along two complementary dimensions. First, most U.S. exports and imports are invoiced in dollars; second, trade flows that do not involve the United States are often invoiced in dollars, a fact that has received relatively little...