Geographic/Bilateral External Balance Sheets

This article reviews the main sources of data on the geographic composition of countries external balance sheets, covering both international and country-speci\u85c sources. It examines the determinants of bilateral \u85nancial assets and liabilities and discusses how gravity models, traditionally used in the trade literature, have been applied to explain bilateral \u85nancial links. A new dataset is used to derive some stylized facts on how bilateral \u85nancial links look like, how they have evolved over time and how they compare with trade links. The role that cross-border nancial links play in the international transmission of shocks is discussed, with reference to the 2007-2009 nancial crisis