. Political commitment is the key ingredient needed for economic take-off and long-term growth. Poor countries will be unable to escape the vicious circle of poverty unless they and the international community join forces. . Inappropriate financial policies can lead to a decline in and poor...

. Lowering interest rates and, thus, the cost of borrowing in the rand zone (Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland and South Africa) is a priority to promote investment and economic growth. . Local-currency interest rates in these countries are driven by those on rand-denominated transactions. Reducing...

In this paper, we analyse the potential contribution of the Internet and its commercial application to the development process in poor countries. In historical perspective, the Internet has diffused at a far faster rate than earlier generations of communications technology: from 1990 to early...

Ce document analyse le rôle de la productivité globale des facteurs comme déterminant de la compétitivité des industries manufacturières sénégalaises. Il porte sur un panel de dix groupes d’industries manufacturières et couvre la période 1974-94. Après avoir estimé la fonction de...

With the aid of a computable general equilibrium model, this paper estimates for India the magnitude of spillovers from limiting growth of greenhouse gas emissions to local air quality and the health of the urban population. The most important spillovers are reductions in emissions of...

Latin American sovereign bonds represent a significant share of the emerging debt class (50 per cent by early 2001) and so have considerably shaped the dynamics of this market. Recent financial turmoil, contagion episodes and investors’ renewed concerns with debt default call for a better...

A basic feature of development dynamics is the reallocation of labour from low– productivity to higher–productivity activities (generally more capital–intensive and also often more skill–intensive). The expansion of skilled labour supply that accompanies rising per capita incomes is both...

We assess the prospects for growth of African economies up to the year 2010 by modelling structural and policy determinants of growth, under different scenarios for changes in the exogenous factors and economic policies which shape the projections. To this end we estimate a growth model for 39...

In this paper we aim to answer the following two questions: <I>1) has the Common Monetary Area in Southern Africa (henceforth CMA) ever been an optimal currency area (OCA)? 2) What are the costs and benefits of the CMA for its participating countries?</I> In order to answer these questions, we carry...</i>

Rural areas of the developing world are the last frontier of the information technology revolution. Telephone and internet penetration there remains a small fraction of what it is in the developed world. Limited means of electronic communication with the outside world are just one source of...