This paper examines the impact of trade costs on real exchange rate volatility. We incorporate a multi-country Ricardian model of trade, based on the work of Eaton and Kortum (2002), into a macroeconomic model to show how bilateral real exchange rate volatility depends on relative technological...

The IMF Working Papers series is designed to make IMF staff research available to a wide audience. Almost 300 Working Papers are released each year, covering a wide range of theoretical and analytical topics, including balance of payments, monetary and fiscal issues, global liquidity, and...

Inflation-forecast targeting is state of the art for monetary policy. This book explores first principles, including managing short-term policy trade-offs. The book also outlines efficient operational procedures and reviews the experiences of Canada, the Czech Republic, and India. The analysis...

The paper presents a general equilibrium framework for short-run macroeconomic analysis in a developing country context where controls on interest rates and foreign exchange restrictions lead to the emergence of informal financial markets. The complexity of the model precludes an analytical...

This paper provides an analysis of recent developments relating to the major nonfuel primary commodities entering international trade. Particular attention is given to market price movements in 1986 and to the factors underlying these movements. In the case of some agricultural markets, changes...

This paper develops a political-economy model of the budget process focusing on the common pool problem of the public budget. We show that the externality arising from the fact that public spending tends to be targeted at individual groups in society while the tax burden is widely dispersed...