The author examines five major industrial countries'portfolio investment in developing countries to learn if institutional investors are significant investors in emerging developing countries. The data reveals considerable divergence in the pattern of outward portfolio flow for the industrial...

In recent years, the role of investment funds has increased in most commodity markets. Investment funds, which traditionally deal with financial markets, have been shifting between financial markets and commodity futures markets, as well as among commodity futures markets. The popularity of...

The authors investigate capital structures in a sample of the largest publicly traded firms in ten developing countries - Brazil, India, Jordan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey, and Zimbabwe - for 1980 - 91. The firms in the sample are smaller than comparable...

Cotton exports account for a significant share of commodity exports for some developing countries, especially in West Africa and Central Asia. In these countries, dependency on cotton for export revenues has increased in the past 20 years. These countries therefore have a high exposure to cotton...

Widespread private capital inflows to middle-income countries have surged over the past three years. At the same time, Brady-type debt reduction operations and domestic policy reform took place, indicators of country creditworthiness improved dramatically, and international interest rates...

Understanding how prices and quantities affect investment demand is important in analyzing adjustment policies in many developing countries. Recent literature emphasizes that uncertainty curtails private investment, adding a risk premium - the price of waiting. Several recent empirical studies...

In the late 1980s, Japan became the biggest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the world. The main beneficiaries of the rapid increase in investment flows were industrial countries, but the developing world (especially East Asia and Latin America) also received substantial inflows. In...

Many developing countries now actively solicit foreign investment, offering firms subsidies, tax holidays, and exemptions from import duties. One justification for subsidizing these firms is the so-called spillover of technology from foreign to domestic firms. Using panel data -- following more...

The authors analyze the impact of three classes of external shocks in open economies, using a rational expectations framework that nests three prototype economies: a neoclassical full-employment benchmark, with intertemporally optimizing consumers and firms an instant clearing of asset, goods,...

The author assesses the Czechoslovak mass privatization program for speed, equity, and corporate governance. The program transferred claims on assets in 1,491 enterprises - assets worth about $10.7 billion - to the 8.5 million citizens who participated in the scheme. The entire cycle of project...