An empirical study that shows that countries’ reserve holdings are sensitive to the rates at which they can borrow on international financial markets, this analysis confirms the view that holding major currencies as reserve assets has costs that are frequently unrecognized. Between 1978-82 for...

How should possible policy reforms and projects be assessed when prices give misleading signals? Revenues and costs at market prices then give distorted measures of social gains and losses and our appraisal should use social opportunity costs, or correctly defined, shadow prices. We show how...

This paper analyses the economic costs of current agricultural policies in Turkmenistan. It argues that the opportunity cost of continuing with these policies is very high for the budget, the average farmer, and the economy as a whole. The paper calls for the development of nontraditional...

We examine the issue of technical assistance versus brain drain repatriation as alternative strategies for transferring scarce skills to a skill-poor economy. Technical assistance relies mainly on expatriate skills and labor from the host country, while brain drain repatriation seeks to effect a...

This paper analyses the impact of government tax and subsidy policy on immigration of human capital and the effect of such immigration on growth and incomes. In the context of a two-country endogenous growth model with heterogeneous agents and human capital accumulation, we argue that human...

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...

This paper studies the impact of the level and volatility of the commodity terms of trade on economic growth, as well as on the three main growth channels: total factor productivity, physical capital accumulation, and human capital acquisition. We use the standard system GMM approach as well as...

The paper reports the progress of the Honduran poverty reduction strategy program, projects, and policy measures. The report provides details on the organization and results of the consultation process, and analyzes the macroeconomic framework for the poverty reduction strategy. An overview of...

This paper assesses the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper of Vietnam, known as the Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (CPRGS). It is an action program to achieve economic growth and poverty reduction objectives. This paper reviews the objectives and tasks of socio-economic...

The Joint Staff Advisory Note (JSAN) reviews the First Annual Progress Report (APR) of Cape Verde on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) under the Policy Support Instrument (PSI). The JSAN recommends that the timeliness and reliability of data for the monitoring and evaluation of the...