The 2003 Energy review,contains information about the 2003 energy situation of each of our member countries, regional data, as well as economic and social indicators corrected and extended through historical series. It presents and innovative structure for analysis that allows the reader to...

This paper analyzes the impact of globalization on social spending in Latin America. It shows that trade integration has a consistently negative effect on social security expenditures, and that this effect is compounded by higher integration into capital markets. The importance of political...

The setting of user prices for enterprises with large fixed costs and marginal costs below average costs – “natural monopolies” – raises important policy questions regarding both efficiency and equity. It has become well accepted among economists that, in a variety of settings, welfare...

This study considers the joint role of job and housing location as they affect the earnings of different race and gender groups. Building on Wial's (1991) case study of networks in Boston which distribute good jobs, the `network hypothesis' suggests that the channels which distribute high wage...

Over the past 20 years, finance has become commodified. Firms increasingly obtain finance from securities markets, instead of borrowing from commercial banks with which they have long-term relationships, while Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac package a growing number of mortgages into bonds. When...