Spurred by advances in information and computer technologies, financial liberalization and innovation took off inthe late 1970s. Although the changes in financial markets have been beneficial overall, our understanding of the new risks to financial stability lags behind, as demonstrated by the...

Over the past three decades, public spending on infrastructure, as a share of GDP, has been on the decline worldwide. Although the link between infrastructure investment and economic growth is not yet fully understood, the quality of infrastructure clearly affects a country's productivity,...

In nearly every major financial crisis of the past decade-from East Asia to Russia, Turkey, and Latin America-political interference in financial sector regulation helped make a bad situation worse. Political pressures not only weakened financial regulation, but also hindered regulators and...

Discusses important tax policy issues facing developing countries today, provides a review of the role of tax incentives, and identifies some policy challenges posed by the globalization of the world economy. Draws on country cases.

Increased globalization - the international integration of markets for goods, technology, labor, and capital - has coincided in the past 20 years with a shift in demand from less-skilled workers to those with more skills. Have imports from developing countries been responsible for the lowered...

This paper examines the recent evolution of exchange rate policies in the developing world. It looks at why so many countries have made a transition from fixed or "pegged" exchange rates to "managed floating" currencies. It discusses how economics perform under different exchange rate...

Drawing on recent examples of corruption in the Baltics and former Soviet Union, this pamphlet analyzes the links between governance and corruption, and emphasizes the high economic cost that corruption exacts. The pamphlet outlines how the IMF is working with the countries of the former Soviet...

Over the past decade, the United States has been very successful atcreating jobs. Some other industrial countries have clearly lagged behind. But what is the reason why some countries are more successful than others at creating employment? Are there common factors that explainjob creation? This...

This paper addresses the potential gains and risks of open capital markets by first looking at what classical economic theory suggests aboutthe benefits of capital mobility and then examining the counterargumentsarising from problems of incomplete information and other distortions.It shows that...

Each episode of volatility in financial markets heightens the attention of government officials and others to the role played by the hedge fund industry in financial market dynamics. Hedge funds were implicated in the 1992 crises that led to major exchange rate realignments in the European...