There are few areas of economic policy-making in which the returns to good decisions are so high-and the punishment of bad decisions so cruel-as in the management of natural resource wealth. Rich endowments of oil, gas and minerals have set some countries on courses of sustained and robust...

In most macroeconomic models, the substitutability between domestic and foreign goods is calibrated using aggregated data. This imposes homogeneous elasticities across goods, and the calibration is only valid under this assumption. If elasticities are heterogeneous, the aggregate...

Review the quality of the Fund staff's analysis and policy advice on exchange rate issues. The Fund is sometimes criticized for not taking a sufficiently clear position on several exchange rate issues, ranging from the assessment of the level of exchange rates to the description of exchange rate...

This paper describes the result and the methodology of updating nominal and real effective exchange rate weights on the basis of trade data over 1999-2001. The underlying framework is an updated version of the IMF''s current effective exchange rate calculation, which uses weights largely based...

This paper examines the relationship between monetary and exchange rate policies by considering the factors that have led the authorities in developed and developing countries in Asia to alter their use of monetary policy instruments and exchange rate arrangements since the mid-1970s. There is...

In View of the continuation of substantial movements in exchange rate relationships among major currencies, the recent increase in protectionist pressures, and the disappointing performance of world trade, renewed concern has been expressed about the possible adverse effects of exchange rate...

This paper reviews developments and issues in the exchange arrangements and currency convertibility of IMF members. Against the backdrop of continuing financial globalization and a series of emerging market crises since 1997, there have been important changes in the evolution of exchange rate...