This paper carries out an empirical investigation of the impact on bond spreads of the announcement, purchases and exit from the SNB's bond purchase program in 2009-2010. We find evidence in favor of a narrowing yield spread of covered bonds as a result of the program. The effect materialized in...

This paper carries out an empirical investigation of the impact on bond spreads of the announcement, purchases and exit from the SNB's bond purchase program in 2009-2010. We find evidence in favor of a narrowing yield spread of covered bonds as a result of the program. The effect materialized in...

The literature on the drivers of capital flows stresses the prominent role of global financialfactors. Recent empirical work, however, highlights how this role varies across countries andtime, and this heterogeneity is not well understood. We revisit this question by focusing onfinancial...

Monetary policy space remains constrained by the lower bound in many countries, limitingthe policy options available to address future deflationary shocks. The existence of cashprevents central banks from cutting interest rates much below zero. In this paper, we considerthe practical feasibility...

The assessment of external positions and exchange rates is a key mandate of the IMF. This paperpresents the updated External Balance Assessment (EBA) framework-a key input in the conduct ofmultilaterally-consistent external sector assessments of 49 advanced and emerging marketeconomies-following...

The risk sensitivity of international capital flow pressures is explored using a new Exchange Market Pressure index that combines pressures observed in exchange rate adjustments with model-based estimates of incipient pressures that are masked by foreign exchange interventions and policy rate...

This paper presents a new measure of capital flow pressures in the form of a recast ExchangeMarket Pressure index. The measure captures pressures that materialize in actual internationalcapital flows as well as pressures that result in exchange rate adjustments. The formulation istheory-based,...