The paper examines the link between net capital flows and international reserves emphasizing the external financing of reserve accumulation in the context of increasing international financial integration. The paper finds that the effect of net capital flows on reserve accumulation has shifted...

This paper empirically explores how fiscal policy (represented by increases in government spending) has asymmetric effects on economic activity across different levels of real interest rates. It suggests that the effect of fiscal policy depends on the level of real rates because the Ricardian...

This paper examines the implications of inflation persistence for the inverted Fisher hypothesis that nominal interest rates do not adjust to inflation because of a high degree of substitutability between money and bonds. It is emphasized that the substitutability between nominal assets and...

This paper empirically explores how fiscal policy (represented by increases in government spending) has asymmetric effects on economic activity across different levels of real interest rates. It suggests that the effect of fiscal policy depends on the level of real rates because the Ricardian...

This paper examines the implications of inflation persistence for the inverted Fisher hypothesis that nominal interest rates do not adjust to inflation because of a high degree of substitutability between money and bonds. It is emphasized that the substitutability between nominal assets and...

This paper examines the determinants of the high intermediation spread observed in the Colombian banking sector for over two decades. A reduced-form equation is estimated on the basis of a bank profit maximization model that permits a decomposition into operational costs, financial taxation,...

Beginning with the papers by Calvo and Reinhart (2002) and Levy Yeyati and Sturzenegger (2001), there has been growing recognition of a disconnect between what emerging economies say they do in exchange rate policy (words), and what they do in practice (deeds). More specifically, a “fear of...

This paper examines the determinants of the high intermediation spread observed in the Colombian banking sector for over two decades. A reduced-form equation is estimated on the basis of a bank profit maximization model that permits a decomposition into operational costs, financial taxation,...

The simple answer to both questions in the title of this paper: No. We concentrate on three key aspects of the banking system's difficulties during the 2001–02 crisis. Two are related to bank behavior (increasing dollarization of the balance sheet and expanding exposure to the government), and...

This study examines the recent marked slowdown in bank credit to the private sector in Latin America. Based on a study of eight countries—Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, and Venezuela—the magnitude of the slowdown is documented, comparing it to historical behavior...