Rational bubbles are believed to be fragile and unable to explain the trading frenzy associated to price run-ups. With limited enforcement of credit contracts and endogenous debt limits designed to prevent default and allow for maximal credit expansion, a large class of bubbles can be introduced...

We examine the accuracy of survey-based expectations of the Chilean exchange rate relative to the US dollar. Our out-of-sample analysis reveals that survey-based forecasts outperform the Driftless Random Walk (DRW) in terms of Mean Squared Prediction Error at several forecasting horizons. This...

Contrary to the renowned irrelevance theory proposed by Modigliani and Miller in 1961, empirical evidence suggests that assets that pay dividends command a price premium, despite the fact that dividend payments are generally taxed more heavily than capital gains. In this paper, I use a...

As we witness profound changes in the global economy, and as it becomes apparent that the so-called “Revived Bretton Woods System” may be nothing more than a temporary non sustainable financing of the US structural internal imbalance, favored by the global role of the dollar, which has...

The argument made in this manuscript is that the two traditional macroeconomic tools, fiscal policy and monetary policy, are insufficient to bring back efficiently into equilibrium an economy that has had a major crisis. Both traditional macro-tools only work through the demand side, and there...

This paper raises the issue of an initial structure-objective mismatch in the launching of Islamic finance. The abolition of interest and promotion of growth with equity were goals of the conceived system. These goals expressed a long run vision to improve the condition of the Muslim communities...

This paper raises the issue of an initial structure-objective mismatch in the launching of Islamic finance. The abolition of interest and promotion of growth with equity were goals of the conceived system. These goals expressed a long run vision to improve the condition of the Muslim communities...

This paper analyzes how risk premia—and other factors affecting the comparative advantages of security-funded versus deposit-funded short-run debt—altered the relative use of debt funded by securities markets since the early-1960s and the relative use of commercial paper during the recent...

Hong Kong is no stranger to bubbles or crisis. During the Asian Financial Crisis(AFC), the Hong Kong housing price index drops more than 50% in less than a year. The same market then experiences the Internet Bubble, the SARS attack, and recently the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). This paper...

This paper examines the conduct of monetary policy in the presence of credit and asset booms and busts. Conventional wisdom is for the central bank to respond to asset prices and other financial indicators insofar as these factors affect the forecasts of inflation. This paper finds that such...