This Detailed Assessment of the Observance of International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) Insurance Core Principles for Portugal highlights the market analysis of the insurance market. Investment in domestic government bonds has decreased and is outweighed by nondomestic government...

The paper provides a detailed description of a novel dataset on education attainment in public administrations covering the period 1981-2011 for 178 countries. The dataset uses information extracted from CVs for over 130,000 mid to senior level officials from mainly central banks and ministries...

Recent efforts at poverty alleviation emphasize increasing government spending on education. However, even if spending were perfectly targeted, it is not evident that spending by itself will lead to higher educational attainment. Bolivian household data is used in this paper to ascertain the...

Increases in core inflation owing to the VAT hike were smaller than expected, initially constituting a puzzle and leading to speculation about delayed increases or competitive pressures. Given Germany’s large size and openness, spillover interactions appear to have increased over time. In...

This paper documents two aspects of Canada’s regional diversity and compares the results with those across U.S. regions. Although gradually converging, Canadian provinces exhibit a considerably diverse economic structure. The paper suggests that the reduction in macroeconomic volatility...

The report on Thailand’s Observance of Standards and Codes examines Data Module, response by the authorities, and detailed assessments using the data quality assessment framework. Thailand possesses a well-developed macroeconomic statistical system, with much strength that spans all of...

The Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC)—Data Module provides an assessment of Botswana’s macroeconomic statistics against the recommendations of the General Data Dissemination System, complemented by an assessment of data quality based on the IMF’s Data...

Robust GDP growth, declining unemployment, low and stable inflation, and a string of fiscal and current account surpluses -- it's a record to be envied. These outcomes in Canada owe much to sound macroeconomic policies, as well as to a favorable external environment. This book focuses on these...