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In a recent paper on the long coincident behavior of international capital flows, commodity prices, and interest rates in global financial centers, Reinhart, Reinhart, and Trebesch (2016 and 2017) discovered the curious case of missing defaults. Despite the drying up of global capital flows and a sharp fall in commodity prices from 2012 to 2016, sovereign defaults in emerging market and developing economies did not spike higher as predicted by the record of the prior two hundred years. An important new dimension in the latest global capital flow cycle is the surge in Chinese loans to developing countries, notably low-income commodity producers since the early 2000s. A key driver of China's overseas lending boom is its significantly larger global footprint, which expanded at a record clip and helped stabilize global trade especially since the global financial crisis. Furthermore, Chinese official ambition to become a global power led to large official flows to support development projects and other purposes. The key question for policy makers and investors is whether these missing defaults are deferred or defused. There is also evidence to suggest that many developing borrowers are already encountering problems in servicing their recent debts to China (sovereign defaults are mis measured). This analysis aims to shed light into what is currently one of the most opaque issues in global finance. For researchers a key question is whether this new source of support changes the empirical determinants of global capital flows., 1. Introduction As Sherlock Homes noted in 'The Adventure of Silver Blaze,' sometimes what does not happen can be more informative than what does. In his case, a dog did [...]

This article, based on my Adam Smith Lecture at the 60th NABE Annual Meeting on September 2018, takes a selective global tour of some of the prominent economic and financial risks in advanced, emerging, and low-income developing economies. The primary emphasis is on near-term risks. The discussion covers areas where vulnerabilities have either already become manifest, or those where risks are mounting but have not yet sounded a glaring alarm. For the advanced economies, the topics cover aspects of the recent surge in collateralized lending obligations (CLOs) in the United States and Europe that are reminiscent of the pre-crisis boom in mortgage-backed securities as well as Italy's unresolved debt overhang. On emerging markets (EMs) and developing economies, the themes cover: the curious case of the missing defaults (2011-2018); global factors and EM turbulence; and China's international lending to low-income countries and its consequences. A brief discussion of some persistent medium-to-long-term concerns about the rising levels of US public debt and the tensions that arise from internal economic objectives and the external pressures associated with the US dollar's role as the world's principal reserve currency completes the discussion. The tour starts with an assessment of the 2008-2009 global financial crisis' recovery experience.JEL: E00, F00, G00, This article, based on my Adam Smith Lecture at the 60th NABE Annual Meeting on September 2018, takes a selective global tour of some of the prominent economic and financial [...]