Some scholars argue that the free movement of capital across borders enhances welfare; others claim it represents a clear peril, especially for emerging nations. In Capital Controls and Capital Flows in Emerging Economies, an esteemed group of contributors examines both the advantages and the...

The 1990s witnessed several acute currency crises among developing nations that invariably spread to other nearby at-risk countries. These episodes—in Mexico, Thailand, South Korea, Russia, and Brazil—were all exacerbated by speculative foreign investments and high-volume movements of...

Latin American performance during the global financial crisis was unprecedented. Many developing and emerging countries successfully weathered the worst crisis since the Great Depression. Was it good luck? Was it good policies? This paper compares growth during the Asian and global financial...

It was not until the recent global crisis that financial stability was recognized as a central objective of central banks among advanced economies. However, the concerns for financial stability in emerging markets economies are much more long dated, and come from repeated experiences dealing...

During the second half of the 2000s, the world experienced a rapid and substantial rise in commodity prices. This shock posed complex challenges for monetary policy, in particular because of the significant increase in food and energy prices, and the repercussions they had on aggregate inflation...

Financial globalization has made monetary policy formulation in emerging market economies increasingly complicated. This timely set of studies looks at the turmoil in global financial markets, which coupled with volatile inflation poses serious challenges for central banks in these countries....

In 2009, the world is facing the worst recession in more than six decades. Chile has been no exception. In spite of this outlook, the Chilean economy stands on solid ground, and recent figures show that the recovery has started. This article discusses the fundamentals of the Chilean economy and...

This article discusses the global adjustment process and the current challenges for policymaking, with a special focus on the asymmetries and their implications for economic policy. It reviews the uneven recovery faced by developed and emerging economies. Emphasis is made on the situation of...

The welfare effects of mitigating the costs of inflation are examined. In a model where money reduces transactions costs, a fall in inflation costs is equivalent to financial innovation. This can be caused by paying interest on deposits, indexing money, or "dollarizing." Results indicate that...