Emerging markets are particularly vulnerable to boom-bust credit cycles, due to excessive capital flows, shallow equity markets, and companies'' high leverage and open FX positions. While the policy debate on how to respond to boom-bust credit cycles remains unsettled, it has been conjectured...

This paper analyzes the origins, implications, and solutions for the Asian financial crisis. From the perspective of a member of the Executive Board of the IMF, as Asian problems were building, the IMF overlooked weaknesses in bank and corporate balance sheets in much of Asia: the IMF was...

This book covers financial sector stability issues in the following areas: risk management and governance in financial institutions; financial crises and contagion; domestic monetary and financial policies; and international cooperation. The papers were presented at the IMF’s eighth Central...

The use of collateral has become one of the most widespread risk mitigation techniques. While it brings stabilizing effects to the individual lender we argue that it may exacerbate systemic risk through margin call activation. We show how a liquidity shock to the cash lender may propagate as a...

The financial system in Uruguay underwent a serious crisis beginning in 1982, which resulted in the failure of many banks and to a major restructuring of the financial system. This paper examines the causes and consequences of this crisis, exploring the relationship between developments in the...

This paper analyzes the experience of 99 advanced and developing economies in restoring fiscal sustainability during 1980 - 2008 after banking crises, which led to large accumulation of public debt. It finds that successful debt reductions have relied chiefly on generation of large primary...

This paper reviews developments in private capital flows to developing countries since the Mexican financial crisis in December 1994. The paper points out that a strong recovery in these flows masks some significant changes in their characteristics, particularly in the type of borrowers back...

We use the rise and dispersion of sovereign spreads to tell the story of the emergence and escalation of financial tensions within the eurozone. This process evolved through three stages. Following the onset of the Subprime crisis in July 2007, spreads rose but mainly due to common global...

The paper traces the Baltics’ adjustment strategy during the 2008-09 global financial crisis. The abrupt end to the externally-financed domestic demand boom triggered a severe output collapse, bringing per capita income levels back to 2005/06 levels. In response to this shock, the Baltics...

This paper describes financial stability considerations related to trends in accounting standards. The paper highlights that in recent years, financial stability is generally viewed by authorities as having improved, in large part through more proactive risk management activities by banks and...