At the end of 1982 South Korea had foreign debts of US $ 38 billion, the third highest total for a developing country after those of Mexico and Brazil. In contrast to these countries, however, South Korea has avoided debt crises so far. In view of the 20 or more rescheduling operations carried...

This paper presents evidence that the spread between the marginal product of capital and the return on financial assets is mich higher in poor than in rich countries. A model with costly intermediation is developed. In this economy, individuals choose at each instant whether to work or to...

[Introduction] The fundamental development challenge in the Arab region is one of economic transformation or, more pertinent, a lack thereof. Heavy sectoral weights of extractive industries lead to dependence on global oil prices, even in oil-producing countries. The structure of production...

[Introduction] We live in a time of transformational change, with society, economy, ecology and politics in a state of flux the world over. Of particular focus in this Working Paper are the implications for mineral-dependent economies of living in an increasingly resource-constrained world. Both...

The economic profiles of southern Mediterranean countries (SMCs) bear some resemblance to those of south-eastern European countries and some former Soviet republics at the beginning of their economic transition in 1990. The SMCs resemble less the former communist countries that joined the...

El presente documento presenta una revisión de la reforma institucional en Bolivia entre 1982, año de la recuperación de la democracia, 1985, año de la aplicación de la economía de mercado y el año 2000. Es una revisión crítica asumiendo que la democracia y la economía de mercado no...

Since the mid-1980s a substantial body of research has taken shape on trade in services. Much of this is inspired by the WTO or regional trade agreements, especially the EU. However, an increasing number of papers focus on the impacts of unilateral services sector liberalization. The literature...