In this paper we test the impact of elections on fiscal policy in Latin American economies in comparison to OECD countries over the period 1990-2006. We find that in Latin American countries, the average primary balance declines by an amount close to 0.7 per cent of GDP during an election year,...

Remittance flows are an important source of financing for developing countries. In addition to the microeconomic impact at the household level, remittances have grown into an important pillar of macroeconomic stability, reducing volatility of external flows, lessening the probability of current...

Les recommandations des banques d’investissement concernant les emprunts publics des pays émergents tendent à devenir particulièrement défavorables à l’approche d’une élection. Cette aversion est en fait davantage liée à l’incertitude que génère l’évènement qu’à la...

Au cours des années 90 et 2000, plusieurs crises ont mis à mal la stabilité des marchés de capitaux internationaux, depuis la crise du Système monétaire européen de 1992-93 à la crise financière actuelle, en passant par celles qui ont frappé les marchés émergents.

Les emprunts obligataires ont supplanté les emprunts bancaires et autres sources de capitaux tels que l’aide au développement, par exemple, comme première source de financement pour les marchés émergents.

Au cours des cinq dernières années, la plupart des pays d’Amérique latine ont accompli des avancées considérables dans la gestion de la composition de leur dette publique tout en réduisant leur exposition aux devises. Les émissions de titres d’emprunt publics en monnaie locale ne sont...

Over the last five years, most Latin American governments have made considerable strides in managing the composition of their public debt, while reducing their foreign-currency exposure. Issuing public debt in local currency is not new for Latin America; what is new, however, is the widespread...

During the 1990s and the 2000s a variety of crises affected the stability of international capital markets: from the European Monetary System crisis in 1992-93 and the emerging market crises to today’s financial crisis have been present in the arenas of capital markets. These crises stimulated...

Are the financial markets politically correct? In other words, do they have preferences when it comes to political regimes or partisans? This issue has often been explored with regard to foreign direct investment (FDI) or public development aid, but rarely in relation to portfolio flows in...

Bond financing has replaced bank loans and other sources of capital flows as a major source of funding for emerging markets. This shift has been particularly impressive in Latin America. Disentangling the dynamics of emerging bond markets and the information flow about them has attracted the...