The April 2015 LAC Semiannual Report covers the short-term prospects and provides an analysis of the external factors affecting the region's economic performance. The first chapter expands on LAC's economic outlook paying special attention to the global context and its effect on LAC’s economic...

The financial systems of the Latin America and the Caribbean region (LAC) are at a crucial juncture. After a history of recurrent instability and crisis (a trademark of the region), they now seem well poised for rapid expansion. Since the last wave of financial crises that swept through the...

This paper analyzes the process of financial development over the last three to four decades from the perspective of the fundamental frictions (agency and collective) to which economic agents were exposed. A comprehensive statistical benchmarking analysis showed that financial development...

What were the market and regulatory issues that led to the subprime crisis? How should prudential regulation be fixed? The answers depend on the interpretive lenses - or 'paradigms'- through which one sees finance. The agency paradigm, which has dominated recent regulatory policy and provides...

Financial crises happen when: (i) nobody really understands what is going on (the collective cognition paradigm); (ii) some understand better and take advantage (the asymmetric information paradigm); (iii) everybody understands but crises are a natural part of the financial landscape (the market...