This paper discusses the unique aspects of Singapore’s financial, exchange rate, and wage policies during the period 1979-86, and attempts to quantify the impact of alternative policies on major macroeconomic variables. For this purpose, a simple short-term model is formulated and estimated,...

In pursuing a steady-state reserve target, policymakers in small open economies can resort to devaluation or to temporary increases in public saving. This paper contrasts the dynamic implications of these alternative policies in a model with optimizing agents who possess perfect foresight. In...

The choice of assigning monetary or fiscal policy to external balance is complicated when the authorities are concerned with both the current account balance and the exchange rate. A strategy of using monetary policy to control the current account via the exchange rate may fail, because the...

The paper distinguishes between three different channels through which fiscal policy changes may be transmitted to exchange rates. Based on both the balance of payments identity and empirical observations, it is argued that trade balances and exchange rates may be quite responsive to changes in...

Tax or debt financing of a given rate of government expenditures would, according to the now well-known Ricardian Equivalence proposition, have equivalent effects on aggregate demand. Among the reasons for a deviation from the equivalence is the possibility that the government and the private...

This Selected Issues paper for the Republic of Armenia shows that building up fiscal space during economic expansions is crucial for the effective implementation of stimulatory policies during downturns. Armenia’s tax revenue remains one of the lowest in the region, and significantly below...

This report describes the monetary and exchange rate policies of the euro area and the euro area stability programs. The Stability and Growth Pact presents annual stability programs (SPs), which outlines the medium-term fiscal objectives. The paper provides a preliminary review of the SPs,...

Although Armenia itself has a population of only about 3 million, an estimated 8 million Armenians live abroad. In this paper, the size and the sources of remittances to Armenia are first discussed. Then, the appropriate definition of remittances and subsequently present estimates of the...