The second half of August 1998 was dominated by two events. From 14 to 28 August, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) intervened in Hong Kong equity markets to prevent a speculative double play against their currency board. On 17 August, Russia announced its default on sovereign bonds. This...

Over the last two decades, macroeconomic cycles were frequently associated with boom--bust cycles in bank lending and asset prices, often followed by financial instability. In this paper we argue that (i) the new pattern of macroeconomic cycles is partly the result of banking-sector...

The paper investigates whether monetary policy and banking supervision should be separated. The main argument for separation is that the combination of functions might lead to a conflict of interest. An argument against is that separation is inconsistent with the central bank's concern for the...

This paper sets out a tractable model which illuminates problems relating to individual bank behaviour, to possible contagious inter-relationships between banks, and to the appropriate design of prudential requirements and incentives to limit ‘excessive’ risk-taking. Our model is rich enough...

This paper looks at the effect of monetary policy changes on asset prices in the foreign exchange and equity markets of Brazil and Korea. We were searching for evidence whether monetary policy tightening may have had (adverse) counterproductive effects on such asset markets. In common with other...