On March 22, 2017, the Executive Board adopted the Guidelines for Investing PRG, PRG-HIPC, and CCR Trust Assets (the 'Guidelines') to establish the investment objectives and policies to guide the investment of assets of the PRG, PRG-HIPC, and CCR Trusts (the'Trusts') which are available for...

The incentives for domestic investment in debtor countries are influenced by the terms of their external obligations and by the system of taxation utilized to provide government revenue for debt payments. It is well known that existing debt contracts could be altered to improve the incentives...

This paper discusses Article IV, Section 8 of the Articles of Agreement which states the requirement of maintenance of the gold value of the IMF's assets. Each member of the IMF is bound to maintain the gold value of the IMF's holdings of the member's currency notwithstanding changes in the par...

Risks to macroeconomic stability posed by excessive private leverage are significantly amplified by tax distortions. 'Debt bias' (tax provisions favoring finance by debt rather than equity) has increased leverage in both the household and corporate sectors, and is now widely recognized as a...

In most macroeconomic models, the substitutability between domestic and foreign goods is calibrated using aggregated data. This imposes homogeneous elasticities across goods, and the calibration is only valid under this assumption. If elasticities are heterogeneous, the aggregate...

This background paper describes five different tools that can be used for the assessment of tax incentives by governments in low income countries' (LICs). The first tool (an application of cost-benefit analysis) provides an overarching framework for assessment. Evaluations of the various costs...

Experience shows that there is often ample room for more effective and efficient use of investment tax incentives in low-income countries. Tax incentives generally rank low in investment climate surveys in low-income countries, and there are many examples in which they are reported to be...

This paper explores how the tax treatment of investment and savings affects international capital flows as well as national and global welfare. Focusing on portfolio investment, it evaluates the international effects of capital income taxes in the United States and Japan. During the 1980s, these...

This paper considers the merits of reducing or eliminating some specific tax expenditure measures currently in force in the United States with a view to reducing the federal fiscal deficit. The paper starts from the observation that savings decisions in the United States are distorted and that...