This paper analyzes the causes and implications of recent financial crises. Financial crises in general lead to changes in both theory and practice of economics. The paper takes an historical overview. The global consensus of economic theory during the 20th century is discussed. The paper...

This paper considers the general equilibrium relationship between exchange rates and global imbalances. It emphasizes that the exchange rate is not a primitive but an equilibrium price determined by the policy mix. It uses extensions of the two-country Obstfeld-Rogoff model to analyze the...

The current economic crisis is a complex social phenomenon, several aspects of which go beyond national borders and also cross traditional academic disciplinary boundaries. While initial academic commentary in media has typically been grounded within finance or economics disciplinary boundaries,...

This working paper was written by J. Scott Davis (Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas) and Eric Van Wincoop (University of Virginia and NBER).The correlation between capital inflows and outflows has increased substantially over time in a sample of 127 advanced and developing countries. We provide...

This working paper was written by Yin-wong Cheung (University of California, Santa Cruz) and XingWang Qian (University of California, Santa Cruz).Motivated by the observed international reserve hoarding behavior in the post-1997 crisis period, we explore the Mrs Machlup’s wardrobe hypothesis...

The recurring oil-price shocks that hit all economies in the world provide an opportunity to empirically test Friedman's hypothesis that flexible exchange regimes better absorb real external shocks. Using a sample of nine of the OECD's major oil-importing countries and Reinhart and Rogoff's de...

We evaluate whether financial openness leaves emerging market economies vulnerable to the adverse effects of capital reversals (sudden stops) on domestic investment. We investigate this claim in a broad sample of emerging markets during the period 1976-2002. If the banking sector does not...

Three of the most important recent facts in global macroeconomics - the sustained rise in the US current account deficit, the stubborn decline in long run real rates, and the rise in the share of US assets in global portfolio - appear as anomalies from the perspective of conventional wisdom and...

Early research has documented that the large scale equity market liberalizations of the last decade led the subsequent rise in aggregate equity indices, investment booms, capital flows and economic growth. An important and unaddressed issue is the normative question of whether and how these...

This paper analyses the issues raised by EMU for the relationships between the euro area and the international financial system. The depreciation of the euro exchange rate since the beginning of EMU has attracted most attention. The paper argues that none of the conventional explanations is...