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Showing results 1 to 10 of approximately 17.
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Journal Article
Everything was a dollar
In Ecuador, the transition to the U.S. dollar was sudden, dramatic and remarkably smooth.
Working Paper
Dollarization and financial integration
How does a country?s choice of exchange rate regime impact its ability to borrow from abroad? We build a small open economy model in which the government can potentially respond to shocks via domestic monetary policy and by international borrowing. We assume that debt repayment must be incentive compatible when the default punishment is equivalent to permanent exclusion from debt markets. We compare a floating regime to full dollarization. We find that dollarization is potentially beneficial, even though it means the loss of the monetary instrument, precisely because this loss can strengthen ...
Journal Article
Dollarization: will the quick fix pay off in the long run?
Working Paper
Devaluations, Deposit Dollarization, and Household Heterogeneity
We study the aggregate and re-distributive effects of currency devaluations in a small open economy heterogeneous households model with leverage-constrained banks. Our framework captures three stylized facts about liability dollarization in emerging economies: i) banks and firms borrow in foreign currency; ii) households save in dollar-denominated local bank deposits; and iii) such deposits are mainly held by wealthier households. The resulting currency mismatch causes an erosion of banks' net worth during a devaluation, depressing credit supply. The ensuing macroeconomic downturn is ...
Conference Paper
Is globalization really to blame?
Journal Article
Dollarization and the conquest of hyperinflation in divided societies
This study argues that the delegation of monetary policy control by one country to another can reduce inflation in the delegating country. Hyperinflation is common in a divided society, one in which special interest groups can pressure a weak central government to issue money to finance their own demands while neglecting the country?s overall welfare. A commitment device like dollarization or a currency board, which gives control of the divided country?s money supply to another country, can eliminate this inflation bias. This is illustrated by Argentina?s experience with inflation and a ...
Conference Paper
On the empirics of Sudden Stops: the relevance of balance-sheet effects
Using a sample of 32 developed and developing countries we analyze the empirical characteristics of Sudden Stops in capital flows and the relevance of balance sheet effects in the likelihood of their materialization. We find that large real exchange rate (RER) fluctuations coming hand in hand with Sudden Stops are basically an emerging market (EM) phenomenon. Sudden Stops seem to come in bunches, grouping together countries that are different in many respects. However, countries are similar in that they remain vulnerable to large RER fluctuations - be it because they could be forced to large ...
Working Paper
Currency boards, dollarized liabilities, and monetary policy credibility
The recent collapse of the Argentine currency board raises new questions about the desirability of formal fixed exchange rate regimes in modern developing economies. This paper examines the impact of dollarized liabilities with potential default for a currency board with costly abandonment. We compare the performance of a currency board to a central bank with full discretion in two environments: One with only idiosyncratic firm shocks, and one with both idiosyncratic shocks and shocks to the dollar-euro rate. We show that the possibility of default with peso-valued exports generates a risk ...
Journal Article
A common currency for the Americas?
Journal Article
Perspectives on a potential North American monetary union
The idea of a single currency for the United States, Canada, and Mexico usually refers to one of two approaches: the unilateral adoption of the U.S. dollar by Canada and Mexico-dollarization-or monetary union, the development of a joint currency that could be managed by all three countries. ; This article examines the idea of monetary union in North America. The author discusses specific criteria for a single currency for North America as well as the pros and cons of a monetary union and dollarization in the North American context. The evidence presented suggests that Canada and perhaps even ...