This paper develops a simple model of an international lender of last resort (ILOLR). The world economy consists of many open economies, each with its own banking system and its own central bank which uses its reserves to manage a pegged exchange rate. The fragility of the banking system and the...

Financial markets in Britain, and elsewhere, are in the midst of a process of fundamental structural change. The resulting shifts in the behaviour of such markets will require the authorities, in turn, to revise their regulatory and control methods. This book incorporates a series of articles by...

On 18-19 June 2004, the BIS held a conference on "Understanding Low Inflation and Deflation". This event brought together central bankers, academics and market practitioners to exchange views on this issue (see the conference programme in this document). This paper was presented at the workshop....

This paper develops a model of the lender of last resort (LOLR). In a simple one-period setting, the Central Bank (CB) should only rescue banks which are above a threshold size, thus providing an analytical basis for "too big too fail". We also provide a rationale for "constructive ambiguity"....

There has been a continuing debate between those who argue that the use of currency was based essentially on the power of the issuing authority - i.e. that currency becomes money primarily because the coins are struck with the insignia of majesty, and not so much because they happen to be made...