In this paper, we provide a detailed analysis of the Bitcoin network. We build a novel Bitcoin database and develop a methodology for identifying information about the main market participants. We conduct three major pieces of analysis that focus on the core functions of the new architecture: We...

This paper analyzes the impact on financial flows of institutional factors promoting financial integration such as European integration or trying to tame them such as capital control or macro-prudential policies. We use a detailed database of bilateral financial assets and construct gravity...

This paper examines the existence of value premium in the Chinese stock markets and empirically provides its explanation. Our results suggest that the value premium does exist in the Chinese markets, and investor sophistication is significant in explaining its existence. In particular, there is...

Complete financial markets allow countries to share their consumption risks internationally, thereby creating welfare gains through lower volatility of aggregate consumption. This paper empirically looks at international consumption risk sharing and its determinants in a panel of 120 countries...

We study a novel policy tool-interest rate uncertainty-that can be used to discourage inefficient capital inflows and to adjust the composition of external account between shortterm securities and foreign direct investment (FDI). We identify the trade-offs faced in navigating between external...

The post financial crisis period has been associated with increased countercyclical use of various financial policies, including residency-based measures. This paper analyses in a single analytical framework the relative effectiveness of three types of financial policies – macroprudential...

We examine the impact of economic news releases on returns, volatility and jumps of the stock and foreign exchange markets of South Africa. We also assess the impact of macroeconomic determinants. The dataset range is fifteen years covering the period from January, 2000 to December, 2014....

Why do countries tend to repay their domestic and external debt, even though the legal enforcement of the sovereign debt contract is limited? Contrary to conventional wisdom, we argue that temporary market exclusion after default is costly. When the domestic financial market is characterized by...

A simple two period, two country model is used to show that profit seeking speculation can destabilize exchange rates, a fact that has important implications toward international financial policy. Stable exchange rates may require use of government regulation and/or taxation to prevent the...

The literature on capital controls has focused on their use as tools to manage capital and improve macroeconomic and financial stability. However, there is a lack of analysis of their effect on foreign exchange (FX) market liquidity. In particular, technological and regulatory changes in FX...