This paper studies the role of an increase in foreign exchange reserves in reducing currency volatility for emerging market countries. The study employs a panel of 28 countries over the period 1986-2002. Several control variables are introduced in the regressions to account for other factors...

This note presents results from tests on the proposition that a 'surprise' in inflation is positively related to the equity premium using data from four financial markets: the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom and Germany. The results appear to confirm previous work by Blanchard...

Using overlapping generations (OLG) models calibrated on seven OECD countries -- the United States, Japan, France, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom and Sweden -- the authors investigate the macroeconomic impact of possible pension reform strategies as populations age. Simulations include a...

This paper reviews the experience with financial reform in OECD countries. A general overview of the course of deregulation is provided and the economic rationale for financial regulation is discussed. The question of whether financial liberalisation has led to improved welfare is then...

Inflation and the level of total factor, capital and labor productivity are integrated of the same order and are cointegrated in each of the G7 countries. The long-run relationship is mainly negative, the magnitude generally small, and there is no strong pattern of Granger causality between...

This paper examines the effects of monetary, fiscal, and exchange rate policy in a dual exchange rate regime that has arisen in response to exchange controls in the official market. A key feature distinguishing this arrangement from other dual exchange systems is the absence of an automatic...

This paper investigates the impact of the distribution sector on the real exchange rate, controlling for the Balassa-Samuelson effect, as well as other macro variables. Long-run coefficients are estimated using a panel dynamic OLS estimator. The main result is that an increase in the...

This paper shows that exchange rate volatility promotes agglomeration of economic activity. Under flexible rates, firms prefer to locate in large countries, where they would enjoy lower variability of sales, thus reinforcing concentration of firms in such locations. Empirical evidence on OECD...