Using panel data covering 180 countries over six decades, this paper shows that recessions are systematically associated with higher mortality rates. During years when GDP falls, death rates rise, primarily in emerging market and developing economies and there among children in particular.
BIS Papers No 113, December 2020. Financial markets are an important component in the transmission of monetary policy and play a key role in fostering financial stability. Financial market development (FMD) aims at enhancing the capacity of the financial system to pool domestic savings and foreign capital in funding investment and consumption, and at enabling efficient risk-sharing. Deep and liquid markets promote transparent and efficient pricing of assets, ...
Countries with a stronger predicted GDP decline in 2020 have also seen a larger number of deaths in excess of official Covid-19 fatalities. Historical data show that recessions are systematically associated with higher mortality, especially in developing economies. Following a recession, death rates remain elevated for several years. The eventual death toll of Covid-19 may be understated if the impact of the pandemic-induced recession is neglected. Limiting the economic fallout of the pandemic could also reduce excess mortality.
We study the effectiveness of policy tools that deal with bank distress (i.e. central bank lending, asset purchases, bank liability guarantees, impaired asset segregation schemes). We present and draw on a novel database that tracks the use of such tools in 29 countries between 1980 and 2016.
This Bulletin traces the use of the swap lines and their impact on global banking positions. In doing so, it highlights the critical role that banks play in international payments, and capital flows more generally.
We provide a simple and tractable accounting-based stress-testing framework to assess loss dynamics in the banking sector, in a context of leverage targeting. Contagion can occur through direct interbank exposures, and indirect exposures due to overlapping portfolios with the associated price dynamics via fire sales.
Highlights of the Basel III monitoring exercise as of 31 December 2019
Banks with a low price-to-book ratio have a greater propensity to pay out dividends. This propensity is especially marked for banks with a price-to-book ratio below a threshold of 0.7. As a sector, banks also tend to have higher dividend payout ratios than non-financial firms. We demonstrate these features using data for 271 advanced economy banks in 30 jurisdictions.
Report by the Consultative Group on Innovation and the Digital Economy (CGIDE) established at the BIS Representative Office for the Americas, 8 December 2020
BIS Quarterly Review for December 2020: This Quarterly Review shows markets rebounded in November, but concerns about the daylight between valuations and the economic outlook persisted. Government bond yields stayed unusually low, supported by monetary accommodation, sustaining the search for yield. The relative performance of EME currencies partly reflected structural features of domestic economies.
