This paper describes the compilation of the first truly comprehensive database on gross government debt-to-GDP ratios, covering nearly the entire IMF membership (174 countries) and spanning an exceptionally long time period. The database was constructed by bringing together a number of other...

The objective of this paper is to review the Fund's thinking about signaling since its inception, with a view to drawing lessons for the design of possible signaling mechanisms. Over the years, the Fund has both reflected on the ways in which its main activities - especially surveillance and use...

Using domestic and export price data and a framework of markup over cost, pricing behavior of U.S. and Japanese manufacturers is compared. Major export industries in Japan have higher productivity growth and lower pass-through coefficients than American exporters, who tend to price to domestic...

This paper compares the effective rates of taxation faced by a representative investor located in a major capital-exporting country for investments in machinery and buildings in nine capital-importing European countries. Poland and Hungary are found to have relatively high effective tax rates on...

Die Ukraine beantragte die Mitgliedschaft im IMF und der Weltbankgruppe am 19.Dezember 1991. Im Januar 1992 besuchte ein IMF-Expertenteam Kiew, um die künftige Wirtschaftspolitik zu besprechen, die Wirtschaftsstatistiken zusammenzustellen und Vorschläge für Maßnahmen zu unterbreiten. Der...