This paper assesses the benefits and risks associated with dollarization of the banking system. We provide novel empirical evidence on the determinants of dollarization, its role in promoting financial development, and on whether dollarization is associated with financial instability. We find...

This paper examines the importance of monetary disturbances for cyclical fluctuations in real activity and inflation. It employs a novel identification approach which uses the sign of the cross correlation function in response to shocks to assign a structural interpretation to orthogonal...

The recent financial crisis has led to a reexamination of policies for macroeconomic and financial stability. Part of the current debate involves the adoption of a macroprudential approach to financial regulation, with an aim toward mitigating boom-bust patterns and systemic risks in financial...

As for any form of government intervention, macroprudential policy should be justified by market failures. This paper discusses three key externalities across financial institutions and from financial institutions to the real economy that rationalize the need for macroprudential policy:...