Working Papers
1997
October 1, 1997
Liquid Asset Ratios and Financial Sector Reform
Description: As a monetary, selective credit, and government debt-management instrument, a liquid asset ratio is generally inefficient and may introduce serious distortions. However, it may play a limited role as a prudential instrument, particularly in less sophisticated banking systems or in the context of currency board arrangements. Recent trends in the use of this instrument have been to either abolish it altogether or to design it so as to minimize distortions. When necessary, these changes have been part of a broader effort to make financial intermediation more efficient by relying more on markets and less on regulations.
October 1, 1997
Banking Crises in Latin America in the 1990's: Lessons From Argentina, Paraguay, and Venezuela
Description: Recent banking crises in Argentina, Paraguay, and Venezuela suggest that the macroeconomic impact is influenced by the causes of the crisis, the exchange rate regime, the degree of dollarization, and the structure of the banking system. Crises stemming from both macroeconomic and bank-specific causes had the largest macroeconomic impact. Countries with high dollarization and a large share of foreign and government-owned banks maintained a more stable deposit base, at least temporarily, by shifting to dollar-denominated deposits and foreign and government-owned banks. Countries that responded with a rapid, consistent, and comprehensive policy response reduced the negative macroeconomic consequences of their crises.
October 1, 1997
Labor Market Institutions and Unemployment Dynamics in Transition Economies
Description: This paper studies interactions between labor market institutions and unemployment dynamics in transition economies. It presents a dynamic matching model in which state sector firms endogenously shed labor and private job creation takes time. Two main conclusions arises. First, higher unemployment benefits increase steady-state unemployment, and, during the transition, they reduce the fall in real wages and speed up closure of state enterprises. Second, higher minimum wages can theoretically speed up the elimination of state sector jobs without affecting steady-state unemployment. These results are broadly consistent with existing evidence on the dynamics of unemployment and real wages in transition economies.
Notes: Also published in Staff Papers, Vol. 45, No. 2, June 1998.
October 1, 1997
Can Switching Between Inflationary Regimes Explain Fluctuations in Real Interest Rates?
Description: It has recently been suggested that allowing for switches between different inflationary regimes produces a much better fit for the Fisher relationship between interest rates and inflation, at least for U.S. data. The paper assesses the merits of the regime-switching theory as an explanation for the apparent fluctuations in real interest rates in Australia, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
October 1, 1997
Exchange Rate Volatility, Pricing to Market and Trade Smoothing
Description: This paper investigates the consequences of exchange rate volatility on the variability of export prices and quantities in the presence of market segmentation and pricing to market. Firms stabilize destination prices through systematic price discrimination, limiting the degree of exchange rate pass-through. Consequently, the variability of exchange rates is not fully translated into prices and quantities at the point of destination. Empirical estimates using aggregate price data for the G-7 industrial countries show incomplete pass-through in variances, with considerable variation among these countries. U.S. industry specific data also indicate incomplete pass-through in most cases, with considerable variation across industries.
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