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Journal Article
An international perspective on the recent behavior of inflation
Several commentators have been concerned about the possibility that the euro area may be experiencing disinflation with the risk of deflation. However, the euro area is not the only economy navigating the risky waters of low inflation. Several other advanced economies have recently experienced below-target inflation as well as some actual deflation. In this article, the authors collect data for nine advanced economies and document several facts about the behavior of inflation during the 2002-14 period. First, they show that the relationship between inflation rates and short-term rates ...
Working Paper
Multinational Firms' Entry and Productivity: Some Aggregate Implications of Firm-level Heterogeneity
Despite the microeconomic evidence supporting the superior idiosyncratic productivity of multinational firms (MFN) and their affiliates, cross-country studies fail to find robust evidence of a positive relationship between Foreign Direct Investment and growth. In order to study the aggregate implications of MNF entry and production, I develop a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium model with firm heterogeneity where MNF sort according to their own productivity. Entry and production of MNF contribute to aggregate productivity growth at decreasing rates over time but potentially crowd out ...
Journal Article
Commercial bank lending data during the crisis: handle with care
Caution is necessary when making inferences based solely on aggregate loans data.
Journal Article
An application of conventional sovereign debt sustainability analysis to the current debt crises
The developing international debt crisis has unleashed unanticipated fears that governments in some advanced economies may default on their sovereign debt and trigger a global financial tsunami. This article provides a primer on sovereign debt sustainability and interprets the recent experience of advanced economies in the light of a uniform approach that allows an answer to this question: What are the main factors that contribute to make a country?s debt sustainable or unsustainable?
Journal Article
Gross credit flows of U.S. commercial banks until 2008:Q3
Journal Article
TARP beneficiaries and their lending patterns during the financial crisis
This paper provides a systematic analysis of the lending performance of U.S. commercial banks and savings institutions that received financial support through the Capital Purchase Program (CPP) established in October 2008. The authors combine U.S. Treasury data on recipients of the CPP with quarterly financial data for the entire population of depository institutions to reconstruct aggregate lending and gross credit flows (expansion and contraction). CPP institutions experienced a less severe lending contraction than non-CPP institutions for all types of loans and bank asset levels. The ...
Journal Article
The trade collapse: lining up the suspects
Don't blame trade restrictions this time. Instead, the three culprits are the credit crunch, the "compositional effect" and the trend away from making an entire product in one country.
Journal Article
International trade, female labor, and entrepreneurship in MENA countries
Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries stand out in international comparisons of de jure obstacles to female employment and entrepreneurship. These obstacles manifest themselves in low rates of female labor participation, entrepreneurship, and ownership. Recent research suggests a connection between international trade and female labor participation. In this article, the authors focus on the relationship between international trade and gender in the MENA countries. They first analyze female labor as a production factor and then focus on female entrepreneurship and firm ownership. ...
Working Paper
What do we know about the relationship between access to finance and international trade?
In part as a response to the recent financial crisis, the relationship between access to finance and international trade has received much attention in the recent years. This article reviews trade finance, its role and functioning. It discusses the relevance of the more general concept of access to credit for firms engaging in international trade both in normal times and during times credit may be scarcer because of a banking and financial crisis. Part of the paper focuses on the evidence from the recent episode of the Great Trade Collapse, and argues that the mixed empirical evidence is at ...