Publications

Our current implementation of the Fan Chart follows the original Britton Fisher and Whitley [2] and Blix and Sellin [1] proposal in which the inputs enter at the fourth and ninth quarters and are distributed within the forecasting horizon according to pre established weights. This procedure does…

his paper surveys some facts relevant for the understanding of the Colombian experience with public finance and debt since 1923. The stylized facts are classified in three groups as follows: first, facts associated with the dependence of the economy on the external sector; second, facts which…

This paper extends the asymptotic results of the dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) cointegration vector estimator of Mark and Sul (2003) to a three-dimensional panel. We use a balanced panel of N and M lengths observed over T time periods. The cointegration vector is homogenous across…

This paper examines trends in banknote printing during the period 2000-2005 for a crosssection of 56 central banks. It was identified that central banks have implemented new strategies to increase efficiency in the production of banknotes, primarily due to the increase in the demand for currency…

There is now an impetus to apply dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models to forecasting. But these models typically rely on purpose-built data, for example on tradable and nontradable sector outputs. How then do we know that the model will forecast well, in advance? We develop an early…

Colombia experienced a deep recession in 1999-2003. Growth slowed by 4.2%, and investment by 34.6%. Was the severity of the recession due to a financial accelerator mechanism á la Bernanke, Gertler, and Gilchrist (1999)? To answer this question, this paper estimates a dynamic stochastic general…

This paper examines whether central banks in Latin America have implemented conventional inflation targeting (IT) prescriptions, with a focus on foreign exchange intervention and official reserves accumulation policies. To this end, the paper reviews the experiences of Brazil, Chile, Colombia,…

This paper approaches active management of baskets of currencies from the perspective of Complexity theory, where the market is analysed as a Complex Adaptive system. A basket of currencies is constructed using objective probabilities (propensities) and an artificial intelligence optimization…

Financial system’s health is a signal of economic growth therefore it is a key indicator to investors. As a consequence, one of the main purposes of policymakers is to keep its stability as well as protect it from foreign activity. Both financial and economic activity in general are susceptible…

Se presenta evidencia clara a favor de la hipótesis de que la estructura a plazo real contiene información sobre las expectativas de la actividad económica en Colombia para los plazos entre 6 y 12, 6 y 24, y 12 y 24 meses adelante. Los signos de los coeficientes estimados son, en todos los casos…

This paper proposes a framework for a regional economic policy in Colombia. The regional characteristics and disparities of the country are studied, and regional disparities are shown to be both significant and persistent over time. This calls for a policy initiative to promote the development…

The surge in Colombian sovereign international bond issues during the 1990s has created an increasing need for the Colombian Government and the Banco de la República to understand the dynamics and the determinants of the sovereign spread. This is the first comprehensive study of the Colombian…

Although Colombia was not directly involved, the economic consequences of World War II had a clear influence on the macroeconomic policies applied in the country during the international conflict, and in the first few years that followed. This essay attempts to explore the role of internal…

 In this essay, the Colombian experience with internal and external debt since the end of the war up to 1970, is discussed. Following a common thread of previous essays, that experience is commented in the international context. The document highlights important similarities and contrasts…

We develop a small open economy model with sectorial balance sheets that are exchange rate exposed and with sectorial stock and flow consistency. The model is perturbed by a shock to investor sentiment and a sudden stop to capital inflow. It is used to evaluate the claims that usually back the…

Since 1991, inflation in Colombia was reduced from 25% on average to about 6% more recently. Although this performance is in line with a long run inflation target of 3%, some analysts ask whether the Central Bank should continue disinflating. In this paper we present a dynamic stochastic general…

Colombian monthly data covering the period from 1995:01 to 2002:11 and ECM, fixed and time-varying parameters and Kalman filter techniques are used in this paper to quantify the exchange rate pass-through effects on import prices within a sample of manufactured imports. Also, whether the foreign…

 At a request from the Ministry of Finance, Banco de la República last year carried out an investigation into the feasibility to use parts of the foreign reserves to buy back some of Colombia’s outstanding sovereign U.S.-dollar debt.  This project resulted in two thorough technical…