This paper characterizes the precautionary demand for international reserves driven by the attempt to reduce the incidence of costly output decline induced by sudden reversal of short-term capital flows. It validates the main predictions of the precautionary approach by investigating changes in...

This paper studies financial integration in the presence of moral hazard, where banks may mitigate excessive risk by costly monitoring. We show that a drop in banks' cost of funds, less efficient intermediation technology, higher macroeconomic volatility, and a more generous deposit insurance...

This paper characterizes the effects of reserve requirements on financial loans in the presence of moral hazard on the lender side and sovereign risk on the borrower side. The impacts of such reserve requirements on the equilibrium default risk and borrowing are analyzed and their welfare...

Ageacute;nor and Aizenman analyze the implications of inefficient financial intermediation for debt management using a model in which firms rely on bank credit to finance their working capital needs and lenders face high state verification and enforcement costs of loan contracts. Their analysis...

A two-step approach is used to assess the extent to which the credit crunch in East Asia was supply- or demand-driven. The results for Thailand suggest that the contraction in bank lending that accompanied the crisis was the result of supply factors.Agenor, Aizenman, and Hoffmaister propose a...

When households face the possibility of borrowing constraints in bad times, favorable movements in the permanent component of the terms of trade may lead to higher rates of private savings. Agenor and Aizenman examine the extent to which permanent terms-of-trade shocks have an asymmetric effect...

In a country where financial intermediation is highly inefficient (with the enforcement costs of loan contracts very high, for example), or in one experiencing great volatility and large adverse shocks in output, the likelihood of an inefficient equilibrium is great. In East Asia it may be in...

This paper investigates the internationalization of venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) investments. We derive flows between countries of VC and PE investments worldwide, relying on comprehensive firm-level data sources, covering three decades and about 100 countries. A gravity analysis...

This paper investigates the internationalization of venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) investments. We derive flows between countries of VC and PE investments worldwide, relying on comprehensive firm-level data sources, covering three decades and about 100 countries. A gravity analysis...

This paper studies how capital market imperfections affect the welfare effects of forming a currency union. The analysis considers a bank-only world where intermediaries compete in Cournot fashion and monitoring and state verification are costly. The first part determines the credit market...