This paper tests a version of Barro’s tax-smoothing model, which assumes intertemporal optimization by a government seeking to minimize the distortionary costs of taxation, using Pakistan and Sri Lankan data for 1956-95 and 1964-97, respectively. The empirical results indicate that...

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...

This Selected Issues paper examines prospects for increasing growth and reducing poverty in the Solomon Islands. The paper highlights that agriculture constitutes the largest sector of the Solomon Islands economy, averaging about 20 percent of GDP throughout the 1990s. The Solomon Islands also...

This paper examines Cambodia’s 2002 Article IV Consultation and Sixth Review Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF). Supported by inflows of development aid, economic activity regained vitality in 1999. The government’s macroeconomic strategy, which was supported by...

This paper discusses a Detailed Assessment of the Observance of the Insurance Core Principles for Italy. The assessment reveals that insurance supervision in Italy occurs within a legal framework that incorporates the relevant European Union Directives. More than two-thirds of the principles...

This paper assesses the financial sector regulation and supervision in Bermuda in the context of the offshore financial center assessment program. The assessment reveals that the financial, regulatory, and supervisory framework is well developed in banking, the key areas of securities...

In today's financial system, complex financial institutions are connected through an opaque network of financial exposures. These connections contribute to financial deepening and greater savings allocation efficiency, but are also unstable channels of contagion. Basel III and Solvency II should...

ROC and CAP analysis are alternative methods for evaluating a wide range of diagnostic systems, including assessments of credit risk. ROC analysis is widely used in many fields, but in finance CAP analysis is more common. We compare the two methods, using as an illustration the ability of the...