BIS Working Papers no.92, June 2000; and in Crisis prevention and response : where do we stand with the debate on reform of the international financial architecture?

In this paper, an attempt is made to put the changing attitudes of policymakers towards international capital flows into a broader economic and historical context. The paper then goes on to suggest that policymakers today wish, on the one hand, to achieve the benefits of freer capital flows while trying to minimise the risks they pose on the other. Various suggestions for achieving the second objective are then critically evaluated. While most seem to have merit, no single suggestion would seem sufficient in itself to avoid all problems. As in many areas having to do with crisis prevention, incremental progress across a broad front would seem warranted.

work92.pdf

Paper presented by William R White at the Reserve Bank of Australia Conference on ‘The Australian Economy in the 1990s’, held at the HC Coombs Centre for Financial Studies, Kirribilli, 24-25 July 2000

Date:  24 July 2000 24July2000_Comments on Bradford de Long.pdf

Speech by William R White for the Ninth International Conference at the Institute of Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan, on ‘The Role of Monetary Policy under Low Inflation: Deflationary Shocks and their Policy Responses’, 3-4 July 2000

This was a very enjoyable paper to read, but one which covered a very wide range of economic territory. Since it would be impossible to evaluate its content systematically, let me reorder Goodfriend’s contents with a view to addressing only two questions.

3July2000_Comments on Marvin Goodfriend’s Paper.pdf

In Global financial crises: lessons from recent events, edited by Joseph R.Bisignano, William C.Hunter, George G.Kaufman, Kluwer Academic Publishers 2000 pages 177-200

This paper draws some policy lessons from recent financial crises. Three forms of financial instability are distinguished: short-term volatility, medium-term misalignments including excessive international capital flows, and contagion across both markets and countries. Some underlying factors contributing to each form of instability are identified and specific public policies are recommended to help alleviate each. Attention is also focused on recent changes in the processes for developing and implementing incremental policies to improve the international financial system. Finally, it is concluded that it would not be appropriate (at this time at least) to try to establish an international superregulator.

Publication:  Bank for International Settlements Date:  1 January 2000 work84_What have we learned from recent Financial crises and policy responses.pdf

Internationally integrated capital markets can have significant effects on the way central bankers pursue both monetary (macroeconomic) and financial stability. With respect to the former, countries are being pushed into corner solutions of either “immutably” fixed exchange rates or floating.

Publication:  Bank for International Settlements Date:  1 April 1999

work66_Evolving International Financial Markets.pdf

This paper first provides a broad overview of current conditions in the banking industry in some of the countries that will participate in European economic and monetary union. It then goes on to identify a number of important forces for change. Some of these are global in nature, but likely to have a particularly strong impact in continental Europe, while others (such as the introduction of the euro) are distinctively European. The paper then notes just how little restructuring has actually taken place in continental European banking in the last decade and offers some explanations. The conclusion reached is that the banking sector in continental Europe may now be about to enter a period of sharply increased competition. This will pose challenges for national regulators and other policy-makers concerned with the maintenance of financial stability.

Publication:  Bank for International Settlements Date:  1 June 1998 work54.pdf