This paper focuses on assessments of real exchange rates using PPP data and examines their limitations when these are based exclusively on bivariate estimations. It begins by presenting an analytical framework of the real exchange rate that shows that these estimations make many restrictive...

This paper uses data across 365 corridors to document time and country variation in remittance fees and explore factors predicting variation in remittance fees. We document a general reduction in such fees over the past decade although the goal of fees below 3 percent has not been met yet in...

Intro -- Contents -- I. INTRODUCTION -- II. EMPIRICAL METHODOLOGY AND SAMPLE -- III. GROWTH AND FISCAL ADJUSTMENT IN TRANSITION COUNTRIES: SOME STYLIZED FACTS -- IV. ECONOMETRIC MODEL RESULTS -- V. QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF COUNTRY EXPERIENCES -- VI. CONCLUSIONS -- References.

Major output collapses are costly and frequent in the developing world. Using cross-country data, we classify five-year periods using a two-dimensional state space based on growth regimes and political institutions. We then model the joint evolution of output growth and political institutions as...

This paper presents a novel framework to estimate the elasticity between nighttime lights and quarterly economic activity. The relationship is identified by accounting for varying degrees of measurement errors in nighttime light data across countries. The estimated elasticity is 1.55 for...

This paper analyzes factors that determine recent economic growth in the low-income countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States.2 The main findings are as follows: (1) productivity gains in export-oriented sectors and expansion of exports may have become the main sources of growth in...