We estimate the fiscal space of Brazilian States defined as the difference between a State's actual debt and the theoretical debt limit implied by the historical behavior of its policymakers. We estimate fiscal reaction functions and debt limits using publicly available data between 2000 and...

This paper considers whether institutional factors, in this instance electoral systems and procedures, affect Latin American countries' fiscal performance as measured by the size of the public sector, fiscal deficits, the size of the public debt, and the degree of procyclality of fiscal policy....

This paper assesses the effects of total public debt (external and domestic) on social expenditure worldwide and in Latin America using an unbalanced panel of around 50 countries for the period 1985-2003. The most robust and important finding is that higher debt ratios do reduce social...

In this post-modern world of high capital mobility, countries are being disciplined by the anonymous capital market. One view of the situation -perhaps the prevalent view among economists- is that Wall Street gets into your hair because you are running an unsustainable economic program and...

In the context of a perfect foresight, intertemporal optimizing, cash-in-advance model, this paper studies the dynamics of an inconsistent exchange rate-based stabilization policy that fixes the exchange rate without an underlying fiscal adjustment to ensure that the exchange rate policy is...

This book contains a selection of studies discussed at the first and second Regional Meetings on Computable General Equilibrium, which were held, respectively, in Santiago, Chile on 13 and 14 April 2007 with the collaboration of the Centre for International Prospective Studies and Information...

Fiscal policy in Latin America has been guided primarily by short-term liquidity targets whose observance was taken as the main exponent of fiscal prudence, with attention focused almost exclusively on the levels of public debt and the cash deficit. Very little attention was paid to the effects...

This paper provides an overview of the reserve requirement measures undertaken by the Central Bank of Peru. It provides a rationale for the use of these instruments as well as empirical evidence of their effectiveness. In general, the results show that tightening reserve requirements has the...

The template presented in this note is concerned with the evaluation of the sustainability of total government debt, regardless of whether the creditor is a domestic or foreign resident, a public or private entity or the jurisdiction where the debt was issued (in the case of bonded debt). The...

Belize's 2008-2012 Country Strategy approved in June 2009 stated that the IDB would continuously monitor fiscal sustainability and calibrate its financing in accordance with changing country conditions. Rather than establishing specific sectors for IDB support, the Country Strategy identified...