On 19–20 June 2006, the BIS held its fifth Annual Conference, on "Financial Globalisation", in Brunnen, Switzerland. The event brought together some 60 senior representatives of central banks, academic institutions and the private sector to exchange views on this topic. This BIS Paper contains...

This paper examines the role of government-supported housing finance agencies in Asia. We estimate the size of the government subsidies received by these agencies, and their distribution among households, financial institutions and the agencies themselves. We have three main findings. The level...

Our results show that the majority of firms borrow for the first time from a single bank, but soon afterwards some of them start borrowing from several banks. Duration analysis shows that the likelihood of a firm substituting a single with multiple relationships increases with the duration of...

This paper analyses the effect of measurement error in the output gap on efficient monetary policy rules in a simple estimated model of the US economy. While it is a well-known result that such additive uncertainty does not affect the optimal feedback rule in a linear-quadratic framework, it is...

The issue of monetary policy and asset prices has been receiving much attention not only because it is an interesting topic for macroeconomists but also because central banks have faced daunting challenges from large swings in various types of asset prices. To some extent, the achievement of a...

We estimate output gaps using three methods for Mainland China on annual data spanning 1982 – 2003. The estimates are similar and appear to co-move with inflation. Standards Phillips curves, however, do not fit the data well. This may reflect the omission of some important variable(s) such as...

This paper discusses the main potential sources of instability of money demand in Europe originating from institutional changes in the financial system and currency substitution. Money demand equations might appear unstable if the dynamic specifications are too rigid. This can largely be...

Hedge funds are major players in the international financial system and nimble investment strategies including the use of leverage allow them to build up large positions. Yet the monitoring of systemic risks posed by the build-up of leverage is hampered by incomplete information on hedge funds'...

The paper develops a model of an IMF-like coinsurance arrangement among member countries. First, it shows that a coinsurance arrangement among countries can, in principle, play a useful role in helping countries bear the risks involved in developing their economies and becoming part of the...

We propose that individual banks' reported loan losses and provisions for future loan losses are lower, all else equal (including their own financial statements), when the banking industry is weaker. We further hypothesize that this option of underreporting charge-offs and provisions provides...