Declining commodity prices during mid-2014-2016 posed significant challenges to commodity-exporting economies. The severe terms of trade shock associated with a sharp fall in world commodity prices have raised anew questions about the viability of pegged exchange rate regimes. More recently, the...

We establish the following stylized facts: (1) Exports are characterized by Big Hits, (2) the Big Hits change from one period to the next, and (3) these changes are not explained by global factors like global commodity prices. These conclusions are robust to excluding extractable products (oil...

This paper investigates the apparent paradox of the mid 2000’s sharp reduction in the deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon that happened alongside fast growing commodity markets. Particular attention is given to the role played by PPCDAM, an environmental policy introduced by the federal...