Conceptual ambiguities and statistical weaknesses hamper the assessment of external competitiveness. The term competitiveness, while applied extensively, is often imprecisely defined, which can result in analytical errors and mistaken policy advice. Furthermore, aggregate statistical measures of...

Poland stands out amoung transition economies as having experienced a relatively short and shallow constraction followed by sustained, vigorous growth. This paper examines various aspects of Poland`s growth performance from 1992 through 1998 at the macroeconomic level as well as across sectors...

This paper documents and analyzes crisis-related changes in government debt issuance practices in the 16 euro zone countries and Denmark. Using a newly constructed database on primary market debt issuance during 2007-09, we find evidence of a shift away from pre-crisis standards of best funding...

Several transition countries have experienced strong real exchange rate appreciations. This paper tests the hypothesis that these appreciations reflect underlying productivity gains in the tradable sector. Using panel data over the period 1993–98, the results show clear evidence of...

We examine how the composition of public debt, broken down by currency, maturity, holder profile and marketability, has responded to major debt accumulation and consolidation episodes during 1900-2011. Covering thirteen advanced economies, we focus on debt structure shifts that occurred around...

Several transition countries have experienced strong real exchange rate appreciations.This paper tests the hypothesis that these appreciations reflect underlying productivity gains in the tradable sector.Using panel data over the period 1993 98, the results show clear evidence of...