Characterizing asset price volatility is an important goal for financial economists. The literature has shown that variables that proxy for the information arrival process can help explain and/or forecast volatility. Unfortunately, however, obtaining good measures of volume and/or order flow is...

This article describes the circumstances of and motivations for the quantitative easing programs of the Federal Reserve, Bank of England, European Central Bank, and Bank of Japan during the recent financial crisis and recovery. The programs initially attempted to alleviate financial market...

The embrace of ad hoc capital controls to address temporary market inefficiencies on a case-by-case basis, while pragmatic, perpetuates the view that each capital crisis is an isolated example of failed financial institutions.

All of the attention given to raising the debt ceiling this past summer might lead some to believe that spending by the federal government only recently became unsustainable. Hardly. We've been on this path a long time.

Whenever the price at the pump climbs week after week, people start pointing fingers at investment banks, hedge funds and other speculators. This article quantifies the role that speculation played in the rise of oil prices during the past decade.

Weak lending may still be the culprit behind low inflation, but monetary aggregates may no longer closely track credit conditions.