Using a sample of 97 countries spanning the period 1980–2008, we estimate that banking crises have, on average, a large negative impact on unemployment. This effect, however, largely depends on the flexibility of labor market institutions: while in countries with more flexible labor markets...

This paper analyses the experience with rule-based monetary policy in African countries which have participated in monetary unions (CFA Franc Zone, Eastern African Currency Board and Rand Monetary Area). We show that African countries have generally lacked the domestic political institutions...

This paper presents stylized facts concerning the spot intra-daily foreign exchange markets. It first describes intra-daily data and proposes a set of definitions for the quantities of interest. Empirical regularities of the foreign exchange intra-daily data are then grouped under three major...

This paper deals with the determination of the presence of a low-dimensional fractal attractor in the foreign exchange (FX) markets. In addition to endogenous nonlinear dynamics, we allow for the presence of a small stochastic component by using two nonlinear filters in conjunction with the...

The paper documents institutional reforms that have taken place in the government debt markets of many industrial countries since the early 1980s, and investigates the impact of three key changes: (i) the move from relationship financing to market funding; (ii) the introduction of options; and...

The aim of the paper is to analyse the relationship between government expenditure volatility and long-run growth. Using cross-country panel data from 1970 to 2000, the paper finds that countries with higher government expenditure business-cycle volatility have lower growth, even after...