The paper examines empirically the question of whether more unequal societies spend more on income redistribution than their more egalitarian counterparts. Theoretical arguments on this issue are inconclusive. The political economy literature suggests that redistributive spending is higher in...

This paper develops a model merging the monetary approach to the balance of payments and a neoclassical growth model into a unified framework in which inflation, growth, and the balance of payments are simultaneously determined. The empirical part of the paper presents estimates of the key...

This paper formulates a simple aggregate growth model that is capable of assessing the impact of macroeconomic policies on the long-term performance of a developing country. The model emphasizes expenditures on human capital and the dynamics of external debt, and yields empirically testable...

The coronavirus crisis has stiffened debt and development-related headwinds that had become strong even before 2020. Sustaining development while maintaining debt sustainability has been made harder by the protracted effects of the pandemic on public finances, earnings and employment, and human...

This paper reviews past trends in public pension spending and provides projections for 27 advanced and 25 emerging economies over 2011-2050. In constructing these projections, the paper incorporates the impact of recent pension reforms and highlights the key assumptions underlying these...

This paper explains different features of the MULTI-region econometric MODel (MULTIMOD). MULTIMOD is designed to examine the effects on that baseline of scenarios that involve changes in policies in major countries and other exogenous changes in the economic environment. The Mark II version...

This paper reviews and analyzes broad developments and considers specific policy measures to foster saving. The chapter also describes trends in national saving rates of industrial countries in recent years and briefly discusses the prospects over the medium term. The paper also discusses the...

The paper shows that an increase in the aggregate fiscal deficit of the industrial countries may worsen the economic growth and fiscal balance of the developing countries that are burdened with external debt and facing current account constraints. The discussion is based on theoretical analysis...

This paper identifies the countries that meet the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative's income and indebtedness eligibility criteria based on end-2004 data. It also updates the status of these countries toward qualifying for debt relief and presents cost estimates of debt...