“Global Liquidity and its International Repercussions”

Joint workshop of the European Central Bank and the Bank for International Settlements

in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on 6-7 February 2012

6 February 2012

7 February 2012

Deadline for paper submissions: 14 December 2011

Motivation:

“Global liquidity” is a term frequently employed to explain the rally in stock markets, the decline in bond yields, the real estate booms, the surge in international capital flows and the rise in inflation observed in the years before the crisis and/or more recently. Similarly, some see the drying up of global liquidity as responsible for serious episodes of financial distress internationally. That said, global liquidity is an elusive and multi-faceted concept. In the economics profession there is no consensus on its definition, measurement, causes and implications. As a result, explanations that rely on global liquidity are often speculative and controversial.

More generally, regardless of the specific definition, several factors have no doubt had a significant impact on the behaviour of liquidity internationally and globally. These include: financial market developments and financial globalisation; monetary and fiscal policy responses before, during and after the crisis; exchange rate policies and reserve accumulation, and other structural factors.

In this workshop, we aim to bring together academics and researchers to present and discuss research on global liquidity. The intention is to improve our understanding of the concept and of its potential usefulness in answering questions of policy relevance in international economics. We also aim to take a longer-term perspective and link the notion of global liquidity with the evolution of the international financial and monetary system. Of special interest is the link between macroeconomic policy – including monetary, exchange rate and macro-prudential policy – and fluctuations in global liquidity.

The papers should address one or more of the following issues:

• The definition and measurement of global liquidity
• Global liquidity and the direction, size and composition of international capital flows
• The impact of global liquidity on asset prices and exchange rates
• The impact of global liquidity on monetary and financial stability
• The relationship between standard and non-standard monetary policy and global liquidity
• How policy can affect global liquidity

Submission of papers:

Interested authors should submit either a draft of the paper or an extended, detailed abstract 14 December 2011 to International.Secretariat@ecb.europa.eu. Authors of accepted papers will be notified by end December 2011. The final versions of the papers selected for the workshop are due by 28 January 2012.

Organising committee:

• Claudio Borio (BIS, Claudio.Borio@bis.org)
• Michael Ehrmann (ECB, Michael.Ehrmann@ecb.europa.eu)
• Björn Fischer, (ECB, Bjorn.Fischer@ecb.europa.eu)
• Marcel Fratzscher (ECB, Marcel.Fratzscher@ecb.europa.eu)
• Patrick McGuire (BIS, Patrick.McGuire@bis.org)
• Roland Straub (ECB, Roland.Straub@ecb.europa.eu)

The workshop will take place over 1.5 days and includes about 8-10 academic papers with discussants

Expenses:

Academic presenters' and discussants’ expenses for travel (economy class round-trip) and accommodation for up to 2 days will be covered.