This paper highlights the link between deforestation and credit instability in Latin American countries which exhibit strong deforestation rates as well as macroeconomic instability that is often rooted in the alternating episodes of credit booms and crunches. Pieces of explanation establishing a causal link between credit instability and deforestation driven by agricultural expansion are put f...

This paper presents an econometric model that combines macroeconomic time series data with historical series relating to political instability in Israel during the Intifada period, in order to provide a conservative estimate of the extent to which variations in economic performance over time have a political explanation. Political instability is found to have a substantial effect on the cyclica...

In this paper we investigate some of the ways in which short-term variations in the magnitude of political instability can impact on macroeconomic performance, taking the example of Israel since 1987. Several indicators of political instability are found to have a significant impact on aggregate consumption and savings, and explain a large part of poor Israeli savings performance over reccent y...

Using an optimizing model of a small open economy, this paper studies the macroeconomic effects of PPP rules whereby the government increases the devaluation rate when the real exchange rate—defined as the price of tradables in terms of nontradables—is below its long-run level and reduces the devaluation rate when the real exchange rate is above its long-run level. The paper shows that the mere...

This paper investigates how financial-sector leverage affects macroeconomic instability and welfare. In the model, banks borrow (use leverage) to allocate resources to productive projects and provide liquidity. When banks do not actively issue new equity, aggregate outcomes depend on the level of equity in the financial sector. Equilibrium is inefficient because agents do not internalize how th...