We identify incentives generated by the Bretton Woods II system that may have contributed to the sub-prime liquidity crisis now working its way through the international monetary system. We then evaluate the persistent conjecture that the liquidity crisis is or will become a balance of payments crisis for the United States. Given that it happens, the additional costs associated with a sudden stop of net capital flows to the United States could be quite substantial. But we observe that emerging market governments have continued to acquire US assets even as yields have fallen, and the incentives for continuing to do so remain strong. Moreover, the Bretton Woods II system, which has clearly been the most resilient of the forces driving current markets, continues to generate low real interest rates in industrial countries and growth in emerging markets that will help limit the damage from the liquidity crisis.
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
13978.
Length: Date of creation: May 2008 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13978
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Find related papers by JEL classification: F02 - International Economics - - General - - - International Economic Order; Noneconomic International Organizations;; Economic Integration and Globalization: General F32 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Current Account Adjustment; Short-term Capital Movements F33 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Monetary Arrangements and Institutions
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