Why do firms and banks hold foreign currency denominated liabilities? The authors argue that foreign currency debt, by altering the effect of a devaluation on output, has a disciplining effect when the Central Bank's objectives differ from the social optimum. However, under imperfect...

Partial credit guarantees are among the most important interventions designed to improve financial opportunities to small- and medium-size entrepreneurs (SMEs). Here, a third party, usually the government, guarantees the repayment to the lender in the event that the borrower defaults. Almost 100...

Economic and financial integration has reshaped the monetary policy frameworks and transmission channels in the emerging market economies (EMEs) over the past two decades. Economic and financial linkages have become stronger, resulting in greater synchronization of business cycles across...

In this paper, we introduce the first comprehensive database on sovereign debt systematically compiled to ensure comparability, for all countries in the Americas, and use this new data to highlight the main stylized facts regarding sovereign debt for developing America in the last two decades....

Using a new database on the currency composition of assets and liabilities this paper explores the determinants and consequences of currency mismatches in Chilean non-financial firms. As in previous firm level studies for Chile, we find that in periods following a depreciation firms with higher...

Although credit rating agencies have gradually moved away from a policy of never rating a private borrower above the sovereign (the sovereign ceiling) it appears that sovereign ratings remain a significant determinant of the credit rating assigned to corporations. We examine this link using data...

The nature of the microeconomic frictions that transform sudden stops in output collapses is not only of academic interest, but also crucial for the correct design of policy responses to prevent and address these episodes and the lack of evidence on this regard is an important shortcoming. This...