Credit Crunches from Occasionally Binding Bank Borrowing Constraints

We present a model in which banks and other financial intermediaries face both occasionally binding borrowing constraints, and costs of equity issuance. Near the steady state, these intermediaries can raise equity finance at no cost through retained earnings. However, even moderately large shocks cause their borrowing constraints to bind, leading to contractions in credit offered to firms, and requiring the intermediaries to raise further funds by paying the cost to issue equity. This leads to the occasional sharp increases in interest spreads and the countercyclical, positively skewed equity issuance that are characteristics of the credit crunches observed in the data.     

TRADE LIBERALISATION IN SOUTH AFRICA ONCE AGAIN

This paper attempts to reconcile and extend the debate in South Africa as to whether trade was liberalised in the nineties. The core studies in the debate are examined with a view to effecting their reconciliation. In particular the limitations of effective rates of protection as reflective of the stance of trade policy are explained and suggestions made for their use by policymakers. The paper concludes by suggesting that reliance on a single indicator such as effective rates of protection should be avoided.