Long-run cross-country price data exhibit a puzzle. Today, richer countries exhibit higher price levels than poorer countries, a stylized fact usually attributed to the Balassa- Samuelson effect. But looking back fifty years, this effect virtually disappears from the data. What is often assumed...

This Conference brings together the financial experience of rural and agricultural microfinance institutions and the experience of the Common Fund and other agencies with promoting commodities and small and micro-entrepreneurs producing, processing and marketing commodities. We expect that this...