A large number of bank failures occurred in transition countries during the 1990s and at the beginning of the 2000s. These were related to increases in non-performing loans and deteriorated cost efficiency of banks. This paper addresses the question of the causality between non-performing loans...

In this paper we show the relevance of the degree of competition for inferences about changes in export-production relative prices when the nominal exchange rate changes. We devise a model for tradable goods that combines the market competition and the pricing-tomarket literature and we...

In this paper we develop a two-country dynamic general equilibrium model by means of which we seek to explain the long-run paths of a converging emerging market economy. The model’s novel feature is the inclusion of quality investment to the standard framework of applied general...

The use of estimated policy rules has been on the rise over the past few decades as central banks have increasingly relied on them as policy benchmarks. While simple, conventionally estimated rules have proven insightful, their value is generally seen to depend, among other things, on the...

Original versions of the included papers were written by an extensive team of authors for the meeting of the Bank Board with experts. The aim of this meeting was to assess the ten-year experience with inflation targeting and to contribute to its improvements in the forthcoming years. Following...

We empirically analyse currency fluctuations in four central European states (CE-4) against the USD and Euro, employing daily data over 1 January 1994 to 10 October 2005 and constructing a dynamic correlation coefficient based on the estimates of a bivariate generalized autoregressive...

This paper quantifies financial spillovers from global risk factors to banks’ funding costs in Chile. It decomposes Chilean banks’ bond and interbank spreads into domestic and external factors. The results suggest moderate spillovers. On average, global spillovers pushed up bank...

The credit default swap spread appears to be a potent predictor of financial distress, however, its determinants have not yet been fully understood. This paper suggests a banking-industry-specific approach to the pricing of banks’ credit risk. It shows that the pricing of banks’ credit...