In this paper we analyze the macroeconomic record of 'strictly dollarized' economies. In particular we investigate whether dollarized countries have historically exhibited faster growth and lower volatility than countries with a domestic currency. We analyze this issue by using a treatment...

This paper reviews the experience of Latin American countries with structural reforms, and discusses the relationship between macroeconomic stabilization and trade liberalization programs undertaken in the region since the early 1980s. The problem of sequencing of stabilization and structural...

The purpose of this paper is to compare the pricing of bank loans and bonds in international markets. The results obtained, using data on LDC debtors, indicate that in both markets the country risk premium has responded to some of the variables suggested by the theory. However, the way in which...

This paper analyzes the relation between exogenous changes in commodity export prices and the real exchange rate in a monetary economy. The traditional Dutch?Disease case is extended, and the monetary consequences of an export boom are explored. It is shown that commodity export booms can...

Contrary to what is suggested by the theory, most empirical studies on the demand for international reserves have failed to find a significant(negative) coefficient for the opportunity cost of holding reserves. In this paper it is argued that the reason for this is that the opportunity cost of...

In this paper an empirical model for analyzing the behavior of nominal interest rates in a semi-open economy is developed. The model explicitly incorporates both the role of open economy factors (i.e., world interest rates, expected rate of devaluation) and domestic monetary conditions in...

This paper deals with Latin America's experience with capital flows during the last decade and a half. It concentrates on a number of issues of increasing interest among academics and international observers, including the effect of capital inflows on domestic savings, the way in which capital...

This paper investigates the relationship between monetary policy and growth in five Latin American countries (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru).The analysis focuses on the effects of expected and unexpected monetary growth on output, and explicitly incorporates the relationship between...

The opening up of an economy to the rest of the world has generally been considered an integral part of economic reform aimed at increasing the role of markets. Until recently, however, very little discussion was devoted to the order in which the capital and current account should be liberalized...

Many arguments that have been advanced in favor of maintaining capital control within the EEC have not paid sufficient attention to the welfare consequences of this type of market intervention. Our paper provides a simple, optimizing framework in which the welfare consequences of capital...