The remarkable stability of low domestic inflation in many countries requires explanation. In this paper, a number of competing hypotheses are evaluated on a stand-alone basis, and all are found to be inadequate. This includes the view that this outcome has been solely the result of more effective disinflationary monetary policies. However, a combination of these hypotheses (including a signifi...

We revisit the debate on the benefits of financial integration by providing a unified framework able to account for gains from capital accumulation and risk sharing. We consider a two-country neoclassical growth model with aggregate uncertainty. We allow for country asymmetries in terms of volatility, capital scarcity and size. In our general equilibrium model, financial integration has an effe...

One of the most striking aspects of the recent recession is the collapse in international trade. This paper uses disaggregated data on U.S. imports and exports to shed light on the anatomy of this collapse. We find that the recent reduction in trade relative to overall economic activity is far larger than in previous downturns. Information on quantities and prices of both domestic absorption an...

Recent international macroeconomics literature on sudden stops faces a puzzling ambiguity. Using essentially the same basic small, open economy model with collateral constraints, some studies successfully predict the empirically observed link between sudden stops and output drops, while others get the opposite result where sudden stops lead to increases in output. In this paper we resolve this ...

We develop a tractable two-country overlapping-generations model with domestic financial frictions and show that cross-country differences in financial development explain three recent empirical patterns of international capital flows. In our model, domestic financial frictions create two distinct distortions on the interest rates and production efficiency in the less financially developed coun...

We develop a tractable two-country overlapping generations model and show analytically that the cross-country differences in financial development help explain three recent empirical facts characterizing international capital flows: financial capital flows from relatively poor to relatively rich countries while FDI flows in the opposite direction; net capital flows are from poor to rich countri...

This paper provides an empirical exploration of the interaction between fiscal policy, monetary policy, exchange rates, and external balances as well as their impacts on real economic growth and inflation for the BRICS countries. A panel VAR model is employed to assess the dynamic relationships. Our results generally confirm the significant impacts of a monetary shock on real economic activity ...

Financial Globalization and Monetary Policy* The process of financial globalization has significantly altered the environment in which national monetary policy authorities operate. What implications does this have for the design of monetary policy? The question can be properly addressed only in the context of a model where monetary policy interacts with financial market efficiency. This paper i...

This paper analyzes the effectiveness of controls on capital inflows. In particular, we analyze in great detail the Chilean experience with the use of the unremunerated reserve requirement. We examine the effects of the controls applied in Chile in 1991–98 on interest rates, real exchange rate, and the volume and composition of capital inflows. The effects are elusive and it is difficult to pin...

Two hundred and five Escherichia coli strains isolated from calves with diarrhea from mid-western Brazil were screened for the presence of virulence factors associated with bovine colibacillosis. One hundred and two (49.8%) of the E. coli strains produced toxins: Shiga toxins 1 (9.7%) and 2 (6.3%), α-hemolysin (9.7%), enterohemolysin (6.8%), Cytotoxic Necrotizing Factors type 1 (0.5%), and type...