How money, financial systems and policy shape economic activity, and how we measure the forces beneath the surface.
The same financial shock can produce very different economic outcomes. Understanding why means looking beneath aggregate indicators at the monetary arrangements, financial institutions and policy choices that connect markets with economic activity. That connection sits at the center of my work in global macroeconomics.
Measurement is part of the question. Research on economic slack in the eurozone examines how we assess an economy's room to grow. Work on derivatives, bank loan quality and exchange rate valuation explores the financial channels through which risks and incentives take shape. Analysis of Japan adds a perspective on monetary policy and its international setting.
Together, these strands ask how the architecture of finance influences economic adjustment. This page connects academic research, institutional analysis and public discussion so readers can follow an idea across different methods, markets and moments, and return to the original evidence.
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Turkey’s currency response to a sudden stop depends on how domestic activity and credit adjust. Robin Brooks, Jonathan Fortun and Ugras Ulku contrast the recession and external adjustment of 2018 with the credit expansion that limited recovery in the lira after the 2019 shock. Writing in March 2021, they expected the new episode to resemble 2018 and retained a fair value estimate of 7.50 lira per dollar.
Read the workRising US yields were already triggering substantial emerging market outflows in March 2021. Robin Brooks and Jonathan Fortun nevertheless distinguish that episode from the 2013 taper tantrum: previous inflows had been smaller, and current accounts and real exchange rates were better positioned. Those initial conditions supported their view that the disruption would remain a setback rather than a systemic collapse.
Read the workThe IIF’s March 2021 valuation update found greater dollar overvaluation even after its real effective depreciation. Robin Brooks and Jonathan Fortun linked the result to a widening US current account deficit amid fiscal stimulus and rapid recovery. Their model identified substantial undervaluation in China’s renminbi, Brazil’s real and Russia’s ruble, while Argentina and South Africa showed overvaluation. These are the study’s estimates for 2021, not current currency assessments.
Read the workFortun discusses slowing emerging-market inflows as rising US yields and changing asset allocations reduced investors' appetite for risk.
View detailsSlowing credit offered Turkey a route away from consumption driven external imbalances in early 2021. Robin Brooks, Jonathan Fortun and Ugras Ulku connect the previous year’s credit expansion with reserve losses and a wider current account deficit. They argue that preventing excessive lira appreciation would help redirect the economy toward exports and investment.
Read the workThe report uses prime-age employment to assess economic slack after Covid-19 and to place conventional output-gap estimates in context.
Read the workThe authors use inflation evidence to assess economic slack in Italy and Spain, comparing their estimates with IMF output gaps and emphasizing measurement uncertainty.
Read the workThe authors compare US and euro-area output-gap estimates with core inflation using Phillips curves, highlighting the uncertainty involved in measuring economic slack.
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