We decompose real appreciation in tradables derived from producer price indexes in three Central European countries between the pricing-to-market component (disparity) and the local relative price component (the substitution ratio). Appreciation is only partially explained by local relative...

This paper discusses the implications of the collapse of Argentina's currency board arrangement on the debate about appropriate exchange rate regimes for emerging market countries (EMCs). It highlights the link between the inherent vulnerability of the EMCs (the so-called original sin...

This paper investigates fiscal developments in 112 countries during the 1990s. It finds that while the overall fiscal balance improved in most of them, the composition of this improvement differed. In countries without IMF-supported programmes, revenues increased modestly and expenditure...

We analyse the role of various investment margins in explaining the real exchange rate appreciation recorded in European transition countries. We present a model that introduces a quality investment margin and show that the margin is needed for replicating the observed pace of real exchange rate...

The positive impact of foreign aid is limited by the erratic behavior of aid flows. The introduction in 1999 of various initiatives anchored in IMF Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers aimed at strengthening coordination among donors, improving the design of financial support programs, and...

From the early 1960s to the early 1980s, the officially recorded output of cocoa in Ghana declined by 60%. During the 1983--95 Economic Recovery Programme, however, the official output of cocoa doubled. Although these developments have inspired much empirical research, most of the studies have...