This paper demonstrates how regional trade agreements (RTAs) can lead to both foreign direct investment creation and diversion effects. These two effects, in return, impact the enogenous formation of RTAs. The investment creation effect results from foreign forms' ability to serve a larger...

Thirty-four countries in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean would make up the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) if negotiations currently under way are successful in establishing this new trading bloc. While the FTAA would bring a number of benefits to its members, the...

Over the past decade, rising oil prices have translated into high levels of public investment in most MENA and CCA oil exporters. This has prompted questions about the efficiency of public investment in generating growth and closing infrastructure gaps, as well as concerns about fiscal...

The recent financial crisis has highlighted the importance of adverse selection as a contributing factor to financial market instability. In this article, the author examines the phenomenon of adverse selection and explains how its presence in a particular market can lead to market freezes and...

We survey several key mechanisms that explain the composition of international capital flows: foreign direct investment, foreign portfolio investment and debt flows (bank loans and bonds). In particular, we focus on the following market frictions: asymmetric information in capital markets and...

This paper studies the interaction between adverse selection, liquidity risk and beliefs about systemic risk in determining market liquidity, asset prices and welfare. Even a small amount of adverse selection in the asset market can lead to fire-sale pricing and possibly to a market breakdown if...

In an integrated world capital market with perfect information, all forms of capital flows are indistinguishable. Information frictions and incomplete risk sharing are important elements that needed to differentiate between equity and debt flows, and between different types of equities. This...

We survey several mechanisms that explain the composition of international capital flows: foreign direct investment, foreign portfolio investment and debt flows (bank loans and bonds). We focus on information frictions such as adverse selection and moral hazard, and exposure to liquidity shocks,...

We survey several mechanisms that explain the composition of international capital flows: foreign direct investment, foreign portfolio investment and debt flows (bank loans and bonds). We focus on information frictions such as adverse selection and moral hazard, and exposure to liquidity shocks,...