The protracted decline in output volatility – the Great Moderation – began to reach its limits by the mid-1990s, and volatility even showed a mild rise in some countries. Domestic shocks did not typically rise but we find that they did spread more rapidly across borders. One reason for the...

This paper examines the supply side drivers of growth in emerging market and developing economics (EMDEs) during the past decades and discusses the role of productivity-enhancing reforms in bolstering future growth prospects. It examines aggregate and sectoral productivity trends including...

This paper seeks to understand the behavior of Greenspan's Federal Reserve in the late 1990s. Some authors suggest that the Fed followed a simple 'Taylor rule,' while others argue that it deviated from such a rule because it recognized that the 'New Economy' permitted an easing of policy. We...