The Global Financial Development Database is an extensive dataset of financial system characteristics for 214 economies. It contains annual data, starting from 1960. It has been last updated in September 2022 and contains data through 2021 for 108 indicators, capturing various aspects of financial institutions and markets. Please, be advised that the latest release presents[…]

By Maurice Obstfeld and Haonan Zhou Arising dollar—driven by the Federal Reserve’s inflation-quelling interest rate increases and investors’ diminished risk appetite—could cause downturns in many emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs), suggests a paper discussed at the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (BPEA) conference on September 9. Link: The global dollar cycle

By Pamela Pogliani, Philip Wooldridge Cross-border financial centres (XFCs), which cater predominantly to non-residents, are important intermediaries of international financial flows. Considering the size and nature of XFCs’ activities, it is useful to distinguish them from other countries when analysing capital flows and interconnectedness. XFCs’ defining feature is that both their external assets and their[…]

By Giovanni Covi, James Brookes and Charumathi Raja How banks are exposed to the financial system and real-economy determines concentration risk and interconnectedness in the banking sector, and in turn, the severity of tail-events. We construct the Global Network data set, a comprehensive exposure-based data set of the UK banking sector, updated quarterly, covering roughly[…]

By Isabel Schnabel Monetary policy and good luck, that is smaller economic shocks, played an important role during the Great Moderation, a period of broad macroeconomic stability. Following the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, there are reasons to believe that policymakers will find themselves in a less favourable environment over the medium term –[…]