Financial Globalization and Banking Crises in Emerging Markets

Bank crises in emerging economies have been a feature of the recent global crisis, and their incidence has increased in the post-Bretton Woods era. This paper investigates the impact of financial globalization on the incidence of systemic bank crises in 20 emerging markets over the years 1976–2002 using measures of de facto and de jure financial openness. An increase in foreign debt liabilities contributes to an increase in the incidence of crises, but foreign direct investment and portfolio equity liabilities have the opposite effect. A more liberal de jure capital regime lowers the incidence of banking crises, while a regime of fixed exchange rates increases their frequency. The results of the econometric analysis is consistent with the experience of East European and central Asian emerging markets, which attracted a relatively large proportion of capital flows in the form of debt in recent years and have been particularly hard hit by the global financial crisis.     

Contagion and Global Financial Crises: Lessons from Nine Crisis Episodes

Episodes of extraordinary turbulence in global financial markets are examined during nine crises ranging from the Asian crisis in 1997–98 to the recent European debt crisis of 2010–13. After dating each crisis using a regime switching model, the analysis focuses on changes in the dependence structures of equity markets through correlation, coskewness and covolatility to address a range of hypotheses regarding contagion transmission. The results show that the great recession is a true global financial crisis. Finance linkages are more likely to result in crisis transmission than trade and emerging market crises transmit unexpectedly, particularly to developed markets.     

Global Financial Crises and Time‐Varying Volatility Comovement in World Equity Markets

This paper studies volatility comovement in world equity markets between 1994 and 2008. Global volatility factors are extracted from a panel of monthly volatility proxies relating to 25 developed and 20 emerging stock markets. A dynamic factor model (FM) is estimated using two‐year rolling‐window regressions. The FM's time‐varying variance shares of global factors map variations in volatility comovement over time and across countries. The results indicate that global volatility linkages are significantly stronger during financial crisis periods in Asia (1997‐1998), Brazil (1999), Russia (1998) and the United States (2000, 2007‐2008). Emerging markets are weakly synchronised with world volatility in comparison with developed markets. In particular, emerging market comovement is significantly lower than developed market comovement during the Asian and US sub‐prime crises. This suggests a degree of decoupling of emerging markets from the global drivers of volatility during these periods.     

Cross-country causes and consequences of the 2008 crisis: Early warning

This paper models the causes of the 2008 financial crisis together with its manifestations, using a Multiple Indicator Multiple Cause (MIMIC) model. Our analysis is conducted on a cross-section of 107 countries; we focus on national causes and consequences of the crisis, ignoring cross-country “contagion” effects. Our model of the incidence of the crisis combines 2008 changes in real GDP, the stock market, country credit ratings, and the exchange rate. We explore the linkages between these manifestations of the crisis and a number of its possible causes from 2006 and earlier. We include over sixty potential causes of the crisis, covering such categories as: financial system policies and conditions; asset price appreciation in real estate and equity markets; international imbalances and foreign reserve adequacy; macroeconomic policies; and institutional and geographic features. Despite the fact that we use a wide number of possible causes in a flexible statistical framework, we are unable to link most of the commonly cited causes of the crisis to its incidence across countries. This negative finding in the cross-section makes us skeptical of the accuracy of “early warning” systems of potential crises, which must also predict their timing.     

Sovereign Risk Premia and the International Balance Sheet: Lessons from the European Crisis

The external dimension has emerged as an important factor in the euro debt crisis. The crisis has also shown that fluctuations in risk premia can be dramatic. We investigate the relevance of the net international investment position for sovereign risk perception and the role of market uncertainty in this relation. Furthermore, we ask whether the composition of net external assets, in terms of debt and equity instruments, is relevant in explaining sovereign risk premia and their fluctuations in time. We find that both public debt and NIIP are subject to fluctuations in risk premia; the external variable is more sensitive to the uncertainty of future expectations, and net external debt is what drives this result. Net foreign debt liabilities are associated with a lower government bond yield spread when market optimism justifies their presence with high future growth patterns; however, it becomes an important risk factor for sovereigns when global uncertainty increases and the capacity to repay foreign debt becomes a concern. Portfolio equity and FDI are related to sovereign risk in a stable manner, while a given amount of net external debt can be associated with government yield spread spikes as high as 4 %.     

Capital Flows and Economic Growth in the Era of Financial Integration and Crisis, 1990–2010

We investigate the relationship between economic growth and lagged international capital flows, disaggregated into FDI, portfolio investment, equity investment, and short-term debt. We follow about 100 countries during 1990–2010 when emerging markets became more integrated into the international financial system. We look at the relationship both before and after the global crisis. Our study reveals a complex and mixed picture. The relationship between growth and lagged capital flows depends on the type of flows, economic structure, and global growth patterns. We find a large and robust relationship between FDI – both inflows and outflows – and growth. The relationship between growth and equity flows is smaller and less stable. Finally, the relationship between growth and short-term debt is nil before the crisis, and negative during the crisis.     

从金融全球化的不平衡发展看次贷危机根源

本文利用131个国家和地区在1970～2006年的金融数据,对美国、其它发达国家、新兴市场国家和发展中国家参与金融全球化的进程中资产和负债的总量增长、结构演变和分配格局进行了量化分析,揭示了当前世界金融体系不平衡发展的动态路径和数量特征,并由此探讨次贷危机的宏观层面的根源。     

Transforming Central Bank Liabilities into Government Debt: The Case of China

Where policy has substantially increased central bank assets, the corresponding liabilities present an opportunity to increase the breadth, depth and liquidity of the government bond market. In China's case, transformed illiquid central bank liabilities could double or triple the stock of government bonds. Central bank liabilities can be transformed into government bonds either through the government's purchase of foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank or by the government overfunding its borrowing requirement and depositing the proceeds in the central bank. The overfunding approach is preferred if, for financial stability reasons, it is judged prudent to leave the central bank with sufficient resources to serve itself as lender of last resort in foreign currency to the banking system. In the case of China, public debt consolidation could also contribute to further liberalizing the Chinese banking system, wider international use of the renminbi and more balanced holdings of key currency government bonds.     

货币错配与经济金融稳定:来自亚太地区的经验

中国的汇率制度改革使得在钉住汇率制度下积聚的巨大货币错配风险逐渐暴露出来。货币错配是否会影响经济金融稳定,通过对亚洲金融危机、日本经济衰退以及本世纪以来亚洲新兴市场国家累积的新风险进行梳理、比较与分析,认为净外币负债型货币错配与净外币资产型货币错配在一定条件下都会影响经济金融稳定。     

欧洲主权债务危机的由来、影响及其启示

全球各国为了尽快摆脱次贷危机导致的金融危机的困扰,纷纷采取＂赤字财政＂的扩张政策。当前尽管次贷危机的影响逐渐远去,但由此带来的副作用即＂主权债务危机＂却开始显现。近期,希腊、葡萄牙和西班牙等欧洲国家的主权债务问题一度引发全球资本市场的动荡并牵动投资者敏感的神经。文章通过分析欧洲主权债务危机的由来、对全球金融经济的影响以及对我国的启示来详细论述这次欧洲主权债务危机。     

Expansionary monetary policy and credit allocation: Evidence from China

We identify the impact of expansionary monetary policy in China during the 2008–2009 global financial crisis on the credit and investment allocation among firms. We obtain robust evidence that expansionary monetary policy led to the misallocation of bank credit to less productive firms after controlling for confounding factors. However, we find that investment increased more for more productive firms. Additional analyses show that this occurred partly because more productive firms hoarded cash before the crisis, and partly because less productive firms invested more in financial assets.     

Capital Flow Management Policies and Riskiness of External Liability Structures: the Role of Local Financial Markets

This paper investigates the role domestic financial systems play in the effectiveness of capital flow management policies (CFMs) on the risk of over-reliance on debt. Using data from 44 emerging market countries over the period 1995—2008, we investigate the relationship between financial development, CFMs, and the share of debt in external liabilities as the measure of financial stability risks. We find that financial sector development is an important channel for the effectiveness of CFMs, and enhances the impact of different policy measures on the reduction of external debt liabilities. Our results show that CFMs are significantly more effective in curbing debt inflows in a bank-based economy but, to a lesser extent, in a market-based economy. Our findings remain robust to alternative measures of external liability structures, CFMs and financial development, and consideration of potential endogeneity.     

From the Great Moderation to the Global Crisis: Exchange Market Pressure in the 2000s

We study exchange market pressures (EMP) and using international reserves by emerging markets (EMs) during the 2000s. We find that financial considerations dominated trade factors. The impact of gross short-term external debt quintuples during the crisis. Capital outflows and deleveraging was the force behind EMP rise during the global financial crisis. Greater FDI (greater portfolio debt) inflows prior to the crisis were associated with a lower (higher) crisis EMP, respectively. The severity of the financial shock was exacerbated by financial ties to the U.S., while the trade shock was more severe in EMs with a larger commodity export share.     

Fund Mobilization and Investment Behavior in Thai Manufacturing Firms in the Early 1990s*

This paper investigates capital structure and investment behavior in Thailand in the early 1990s. Various features of financial markets are considered, and the possibility of applying the ‘pecking order hypothesis’ to developing countries is discussed. By estimating the determinants of the capital structure and the investment functions, three major results are obtained. First, the lower debt ratio of listed firms is realized by an increase in the capital surplus gained by initial public offering. Second, firms’ participation in the securities market accommodates agency costs both in the equity and bank‐loan markets. Third, ‘financial conglomerate’ firms are inactive investors and are dependent upon informal financial transactions, whereas foreign firms borrow less and invest more.     

The Tet offensive: A turning point in America's Asian policy

A series of financial crises in emerging market economies during the 1990s have been a catalyst for efforts to strengthen the international financial system. Indeed, much has been done to strengthen the architecture of the international financial system, both in terms of crisis prevention and crisis management. The powerful G‐7 countries have made it clear that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) plays a significant role in shaping the new global financial architecture. However, is the IMF up to the task? This paper argues that despite its many limitations, the IMF is an important institution that can strengthen the global financial system. The paper begins with a discussion of what the IMF is and what it is not This will help put in perspective the nature, mandate, and role of this much‐misunderstood global institution. The second section reviews some of the recent reforms the IMF has introduced to effectively carry out its new function. While these reforms are hardly revolutionary, they nevertheless, will significantly strengthen both the domestic and international financial system. The third section examines the Achilles heel of the IMF—that its policies promote moral hazard. How effectively have the IMF reforms addressed this? It is argued that although the problems associated with moral hazard can never be fully eliminated, the IMF reforms will greatly mitigate the problem. It is very likely that for the foreseeable future, the IMF will continue to serve as an informal international lender of last resort.     

Lessons of the crisis for emerging markets

This paper analyzes the impact of the global financial crisis on emerging markets. It argues that the crisis will have enduring implications for policy toward the development and liberalization of financial markets. In particular, emerging markets will rely (even) less on external finance and adopt a less permissive approach to foreign bank presence. In contrast, the crisis will have a much more limited impact on other aspects of globalization. More controversially, the paper argues that the crisis is unlikely to have a major impact on the structure of the international monetary system.     

Is the COVID-19 pandemic more contagious for the Asian stock markets? A comparison with the Asian financial,the US subprime and the Eurozone debt crisis

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has sent shock waves across the global stock markets. Several financial crises in the past too have had a global impact with their reach extending beyond the country of origin. The current study compares the contagion effect of four such crises viz. the Asian financial crisis, the US subprime crisis, the Eurozone debt crisis, and the currently ongoing Covid-19 crisis on Asian stock markets to understand which of these has had the most severe impact. It finds that among all the four crises, the US subprime crisis has been the most contagious for the Asian stock markets. The study also highlights the difference between severities of a liquidity crisis versus a real crisis and identifies the markets that remained insulated from all these crises, a finding which will be useful for portfolio managers in devising their asset allocation.     

日本灾后财政和债务前景展望

日本是发达经济体中财政赤字和政府债务负担最严重的国家。接二连三的欧洲主权债务危机和美国主权债务问题使市场不得不对日本是否将是下一个债务危机发生国产生隐忧。在2008年全球金融危机爆发前,日本的债务结构和低利率环境还可以使其维系高额的财政赤字和债务负担。然而2008年之后,在全球经济疲软和日本经济萎靡不振的背景下,日本处在了主权债务风险一直上升的阶段。更令日本祸不单行的是"3.11"大地震、海啸和核泄露事件,这一连串灾难更令日本在财政赤字和举债问题上如履薄冰。如果日本政府还不尽快实施有效的债务管理政策和可信的财政整顿计划,短期日本经济会难于运转,中长期日本将爆发主权债务危机。     

Return and volatility spillovers among the East Asian equity markets

This article examines the extent of contagion and interdependence across the East Asian equity markets since early 1990s and compares the ongoing crisis with earlier episodes. Using the forecast error variance decomposition from a vector autoregression, we derive return and volatility spillover indices over the rolling sub-sample windows. We show that there is substantial difference between the behavior of the East Asian return and volatility spillover indices over time. While the return spillover index reveals increased integration among the East Asian equity markets, the volatility spillover index experiences significant bursts during major market crises, including the East Asian crisis. The fact that both return and volatility spillover indices reached their respective peaks during the current global financial crisis attests to the severity of the current episode.     

The global financial crisis: How similar? How different? How costly?

This paper provides a brief analysis of three major questions raised in the context of the recent global financial crisis. First, how similar is the crisis to previous episodes? We argue that the crisis featured some close similarities to earlier ones, including the presence of credit and asset price booms fueled by rapid debt accumulation. Second, how different is it from earlier episodes? We show that, as much as it displayed some similarities with previous cases, it also featured some significant differences, such as the explosion of opaque and complex financial instruments in a context of highly integrated global financial markets. Third, how costly are recessions that followed these types of crises? Although the latest episode took a very heavy toll on the real economy, we argue that this was not a surprising outcome. In particular, historical comparisons indicate that recessions associated with periods of deep financial disruptions result in much larger declines in real economic activity. We discuss the implications of these findings for economic and financial sector policies and future research.