Central banks often hold far more assets, and issue more liabilities to finance those assets, than is necessary to provide their domestic payments systems with adequate liquidity. That is to say, their balance sheets are "large" (See Stella (2010) Minimising monetary policy (BIS Working Paper...

Ineffective tax administration is a chronic problem in many developing countries. A radical solution is tax farming, whereby the right to collect certain taxes is auctioned off to private sector collectors. Proponents argue that it minimizes administrative costs and results in more efficient...

Although rarely acknowledged explicitly, the financial strength of an independent and credible central bank must be commensurate with its policy tasks and the risks it faces. This paper explores the relationship between central bank financial strength and policy outcomes, stressing the...