This paper analyses how the risk-sharing capacity of the financial system varies over the business cycle, leading to procyclical fragility. We show how financial imperfections contribute to underinsurance by entrepreneurs, generating an externality that leads to the build-up of systematic risk...

We present a general equilibrium model of intermediation designed to capture some of the key features of the modern financial system. The model incorporates financial constraints and state-contingent contracts, and captures the spillovers associated with asset fire sales during periods of...

This paper presents a theoretical model of international bank lending that may explain quot;herd-likequot; behaviour in lending to LDCs. The model assumes that there is a central money-centre bank whose behaviour influences that of regional banks by virtue of the fact that the regional bank can...

In this paper the question of whether recent international policy initiatives to facilitate financial rescues in emerging market countries have influenced debtors' incentives to access official sector resources is examined. A country's systemic importance is highlighted as a key characteristic...

This paper examines whether recent international policy initiatives to facilitate financial rescues in emerging market countries have influenced debtors' incentives to access official sector resources. The paper highlights a country's systemic importance as a key characteristic that drives...

This paper examines whether recent international policy initiatives to facilitate financial rescues in emerging market countries have influenced debtors' incentives to access official sector resources. The paper highlights a country's systemic importance as a key characteristic that drives...

Many emerging market economy (EME) financial crises in the 1990s quickly spread to other countries. By contrast, spillovers from the Argentina crisis in 2001-02 appear to have been much more limited. Why do some crises spread widely and others do not? In this paper the joint importance of...

The exponential growth of hedge funds, their role in financial crises in the 1990s, and examples of fraudulent behaviour have precipitated a heated debate over their regulatory status. The existing approaches of greater disclosure and activity restrictions appear too blunt to be effective and...