Corporate priorities, government policies, and public demand are driving companies across the world to improve their environmental and social footprint. In South Africa, the Petco Producer Responsibility Organisation NPC is scaling up the recycling of plastics, while improving livelihoods for...

The aim of this paper is to address the implications of Global Value Chains (GVCs) for the Fund's surveillance work. The paper first draws on the World Input-Output Database (WIOD) to document the dynamics of trade linkages between countries and regions through GVCs and its impact on the real...

The optimal provision of loan guarantees or deposit insurance is examined in the context of an overlapping generations model. It is demonstrated that even in the face of a market imperfection that precludes diversification of the private sector’s loan portfolio to eliminate risk, full...

A firm theoretical basis for the empirical relationship between dependency rates and savings behavior in developing countries is still lacking. Two demographic extensions of the representative household’s stochastic dynamic optimization problem are presented here. It is shown that the...

This paper examines whether financial deregulation in the 1980s has reduced the importance of liquidity constraints in consumption patterns. Data for six industrialized countries are used to estimate a simple model incorporating liquidity constraints and forward looking behavior. It is concluded...

This Annual Progress Report reviews the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and Economic and Social Plan for 2007 for Mozambique. The report presents the new simplified structure adopted in the Review of the First Half of 2007. In the international context, the evolution of the international...

This paper presents the Joint Staff Advisory Note on Guinea-Bissau’s Second National Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP II) covering 2011–15. The PRSP II, adopted by the government in July 2011, provides the framework for the implementation of a comprehensive strategy aimed at...

The Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) prepared by the Burkinabè government forms the principal benchmark for all development actors, and reaffirms the urgency of attacking poverty from a structural perspective. It is the primary tool for coordination of all interventions and of public aid...

This strategic paper discusses Ethiopia’s growth and transformation plan (GTP) for the periods 2010/2011 and 2014/2015. The Ethiopian government’s main development agenda has been poverty eradication. The government has designed, and is implementing, strategies, policies, and plans...