We propose firm-specific (idiosyncratic) uncertainty as a key cross-country determinant of the total credit allocated to the private sector. We show that in the presence of informational asymmetry in the credit market, theory suggests that higher uncertainty lowers the ratio of private credit to...

This paper investigates bond market development in Asia by exploring the determinants of firms’ decisions to issue public debt in a range of Asian economies. Using a novel database covering the period 1995 to 2007, we use comparable micro level panel of nine countries - China, Hong Kong,...

Corporate bond issuers in emerging economies in Asia have often had a choice between an onshore market and an offshore one. Since 1998, however, many of these issuers have increasingly turned to the onshore market. This paper investigates systematically what factors have influenced this choice...

We introduce endogenous participation in an economy with labor and financial market frictions. Agents can choose to be workers or entrepreneurs or not to participate in any market. We examine how the transition rates between these three options are affected by productivity shocks (business cycle...

There are some surprising parallels between the 1997-8 Asian crisis and the recent financial crisis that provide lessons for policymakers. This paper provides a theoretical model of an open economy credit channel including currency mismatch and financial fragility where exporting firms have...

After a long academic debate, Spain finally repealed in 2012 the deduction for home purchase. The abrogation took effect in 2013. In parallel, the VAT for the purchase of new housing was increased after a short period in which it had a reduced rate. The aim of this paper is to assess the...

This paper examines the impact of a compositional change in public expenditure on long-run growth. To do this, we construct a new dataset based on the IMF's government finance statistics (GFS) yearbook covering the period 1970-2010 for 56 countries (14 low-, 16 medium-, and 26 high-income...

Using daily, stock level data for the early development of the equity market of Trinidad and Tobago over the period 2001 to 2008, this paper investigates the influence of the degree of institutional ownership of stock on lead-lag, stock return relationships. Using a VAR modelling approach to...

In this paper, we analyse the implications of macroprudential and monetary policies for business cycles, welfare, and .nancial stability. We consider a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model with housing and collateral constraints. A macroprudential rule on the loan-to-value ratio...

This paper provides a new insight into the relationship between financial market tightness and real activity using a unique new database extracted from Bloomberg to construct a credit spread index from 500 corporate bonds issued in eight European countries. We find that European bond spread...