The present paper critically examines how aid dependent low-income countries have approached the process of public expenditure management reform during the 1990s. It begins with an overview of broader public sector reform initiatives in LDCs which provide the backdrop against which expenditure...

ESAU Working Paper 6 finds evidence from eight countries having suffered significant, multi-year, falls in per capita incomes, that the majority made remarkable swift economic recoveries. Their record differs from the conclusions presented in the some of the post-conflict literature according to...

Working Paper 7 is the first of three ESAU monographs on the fiscal effects of aid - the two others covering Uganda (Working Paper 9) and Zambia (Working Paper 10). Their methodology and general conclusions are summarised in a separate Survey and Synthesis paper (Working Paper 11). The purpose...

ESAU Working Paper 4 applies a standard (IFPRI) macroeconomic CGE model to Zimbabwe to ascertain the likely income distribution impacts of alternative policy instruments for stabilising the economy, specifically for eliminating the current account deficit, viz. devaluation or fiscal adjustment....

This report assesses the evidence on the extent and prospects of an HIV/AIDS epidemic in the countries of the former Soviet Union and the impact this will have on the economies of those countries. The main focus of the report is the Russian Federation. The economic and demographic context...

ESAU Working Paper 3 exploits recently collected survey data for Sri Lanka. Key findings are: Sri Lanka's already fast rising age dependency ratio is expected to double over the next 20years; income poverty in households with elderly people is below the national average - because of family...

The paper, written largely before Multi-Fibre Agreement (MFA) quotas on developing country exports of textiles and garments were removed on 31 December 2004, argues that Cambodia’s garment industry is well placed to withstand the increase in competition in its export markets that quota removal...

ESAU Working Paper 5 examines the contrasting growth experiences of Kenya and Bangladesh since the 1960s. The paper finds that, before 1980, Kenya grew strongly, and the economy diversified. Factors behind its subsequent deterioration in the 1990s were the government’s erratic, inflation-prone...