The huge increase in international reserve holdings by Asian countries since the 1997 crisis has been one of the most important recent developments on the international financial scene. These buildups have contributed substantially to concerns about the creation of excessive global liquidity....

China is the largest reserve holder among developing countries, having amassed over US$ 600 billion of reserves by end 2004. Given the potential liquidity overhang concerns in China due to the rapid reserve buildup, the PeopleÂ’s Bank of China (PBOC) has actively attempted to sterilize these...

The concept of fiscal multipliers is examined in the context of the major theoretical approaches. Differing methods of calculating multipliers are then recounted (structural equations, VAR, simulation). The sensitivity of estimates to conditioning on the state of the economy (slack, financial...