Countries where social and political institutions stimulate interpersonal trust, civic cooperation, and social cohesiveness tend to have more efficient governments, better governance systems, and faster growth. This paper provides cross-country evidence, based on a sample of developing and...

This paper discusses commodity prices might serve as a useful leading indicator of inflation, based on the relative importance of flexible auction markets for the determination of these prices. They thus may have a tendency to respond relatively quickly, especially in response to monetary...

This paper describes the functioning of labor markets and to eliminate other structural obstacles to noninflationary growth. The decline in the price level in the home country will involve a rise in the real money supply and, if output is sluggish, this will result in an excess supply of money....

This paper examines recent economic developments in the Republic of Palau. Palau has made a modest recovery in 2000 and 2001. Real GDP growth has been about 1 percent in 2000 and 2001, after the recession brought about by the Asian crisis reached its trough of negative 51⁄2 percent growth in...

This paper presents the international financial markets aspects of the current turbulence in emerging markets. The ongoing international diversification of institutional portfolios, the return of flight capital, and the cyclical developments in industrial countries combined to generate a...

This paper provides an analysis of the market developments in 1988 with respect to primary commodities and the outlook for these commodities in the near and medium term. Attention is focused on the major nonfuel primary commodities traded in international markets. Movements in the overall price...

"Provides guidance on (1) the concepts, definitions, and classification of public sector debt statistics; (2) the sources and techniques for compiling these data; and (3) some analytical tools that may be used to analyze these statistics"--Pref

This paper presents the annual survey of international capital market developments and prospects. It reviews trends in the main market segments and seeks to analyze the principal forces underlying these developments, in particular the progressive integration of markets and the related...

This paper discusses the evaluation of technical assistance (TA) and training provided by the Statistical Department (STA) of the IMF to Peru during 1993–2011. The results showed that TA was reasonably effective, especially in the areas of government finance statistics, and responded well to...