Stress testing is a useful and increasingly popular, yet sometimes misunderstood, method of analyzing the resilience of financial systems to adverse events. This paper aims to help demystify stress tests and illustrate their strengths and weaknesses. Using an Excel-based template with...

The Czech economy has rebounded from the downturn owing to its strong fundamentals and the global recovery. Domestic demand has become self-sustaining since mid-2010. Fixed investment grew moderately in the second half of 2010, mostly on account of one-off factors. GDP has grown by 2.3 percent...

In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries. Each report, prepared by a staff team after discussions with government officials, is published at the option of the member country.

This paper discusses key findings of the Financial System Stability Assessment for Namibia, including the Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes on Banking Supervision. The financial system of Namibia appears healthy, well-run, and resilient to plausible macroeconomic shocks. Namibia...

We study the behavior of private pension funds as large depositors in a banking system. Using panel data analysis, we examine whether, and if so how, pension funds influence market discipline in Argentina in the period 1998-2001. We find evidence that pension funds exert market discipline and...

Remarks at the Washington and Lee University H. Parker Willis Lecture in Political Economics, Lexington, Virginia.

Remarks at the Washington and Lee University H. Parker Willis Lecture in Political Economics, Lexington, Virginia.