In his papers during the lead up to the birth of the European Monetary Union, Obstfeld considered whether the countries forming the EMU were sufficiently similar to survive a single monetary policy--and more importantly, whether they had the capacity to adjust to asymmetric shocks given a single...

This study proposes to use the OCAs Theory as theoretical basis to analyze the Ecuadorian Full Dollarization by understanding the Ecuador-United States (US) duo as an "Informal Monetary Union". At least two phenomena are of interest: (i) to study the degree of synchronization of the main...

Countries which share a common currency potentially have strong incentives to share macroeconomic risks through a system of transfers to compensate for the loss of national monetary policy. However, the option to leave the currency union and regain national monetary policy can place severe...

The cross-country interbank market in the euro area was a crucial transmission channel of financial stress. By using a two-country DSGE model of a financially heterogeneous monetary union where banks in one country lend funds to their foreign counterparts, I examine its role as shock ampli.er...

In this study, I investigate the impact of heterogeneity in financial frictions across the Eurozone on credit supply dynamics and the effectiveness of bank-lending channel of monetary policy, by integrating empirical and quantitative analysis. Using country-level bank balance sheet data, I...

The growing concern about the financial system stability has turned macroprudential policy into a key instrument of the policy mix. Through a two-country model for a monetary union, I evaluate the optimal combinations of macroprudential and fiscal policy, both in terms of welfare maximization...

This paper studies the interaction of international shadow banking with monetary and macroprudential policy in a two-country currency union DSGE model. We find evidence that cross-country financial integration through the shadow banking system is a source of financial contagion in response to...

In this paper we briefly review the evolution of the Italian economy in the post-war period, discussing the shift from a first period when fiscal policy was targeted - among other things - at full employment, to a later period when controlling inflation through a "foreign discipline" became the...

Using newly collected discount rate data for six Swiss cities, we find no evidence of increasing integration during a 30-year period of lightly regulated free banking. We attribute this to two structural issues: banks had incentives to protect their local monopolies, and the inherent instability...

Using newly collected discount rate data for six Swiss cities, we find no evidence of increasing integration during a 30-year period of lightly regulated free banking. We attribute this to two structural issues: banks had incentives to protect their local monopolies, and the inherent instability...