The Big Mac Index, introduced by The Economist magazine more than two decades ago, claims to provide the quot;true valuequot; of a large number of currencies. This paper assesses the economic value of this index. We show that (i) the index suffers from a substantial bias; (ii) once the bias is...

With the advent of flexible exchange rates, research into the foreign exchange expectation relation based on the purchasing power parity and interest rate parity conditions has shown that the speed of transmission of economic variables, such as the price level and interest rates, is not rapid...

With the advent of flexible exchange rates, research into the foreign exchange expectation relation based on the purchasing power parity and interest rate parity conditions has shown that the speed of transmission of economic variables, such as the price level and interest rates, is not rapid...

This paper examines whether the benefits to the Australian investor from international diversification documented by previous Australian studies are still present when we control for estimation risk. The perfor Mance of the Bayes-Stein international portfolio which controls directly for such...

The global financial crisis has underscored the importance of understanding macro-financial developments and spillovers in an increasingly interconnected and intricate system. At the IMF, staff is focusing on the linkages between the real economy and the financial sector, as well as the...

Stock markets play a key role in corporate financing in Asia. However, despite their increasing importance in terms of size and cross-border investment activity, the region’s markets are reputed to be more “idiosyncratic†and less reliant on economic and corporate fundamentals...