The fast-evolving process of urbanization will transform Africa’s future. Urbanization can be harnessed to build an effective urban platform for the continent’s social and economic development, but this requires the right policies to capture the benefits of urban growth. The scope...

The purpose of the Africa Emerging Markets Forum is to discuss the continent’s economic and social challenges and to share ideas for better results on the ground. This article focuses on the performance and potential contribution of agricultural development, first looking at the current...

China's economic performance hs been remarkable since the the reform process began 15 years ago. Notwithstanding the achievements that have been made, a number of serious problems remain. This papers discusses the current reform program and the effors being made to overcome the structural...

China's increasing openness to foreign direct investment (FDI) has contributed importantly to its exceptional growth performance. This paper examines China's experience with FDI and identifies some lessons for other countries. Most of the factors explaining China's success have also been...

Thailand's sucess with economic development in recent decades is due mainly to is commitment to an outward-looking, market-based economy, a development strategy centered on the private sector, and cautious financial policies. This papers dicusses recent economic strains and how the authorities...

This study reviews recent developments in international trade policies in selected industrial countries. It was prepared for the June 1981 World Economic Outlook.

This study examines the financial reforms undertaken by nine Asian countries in the 1980s (Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand) and their implications for money demand and monetary policy.

The capital needs that will enable Eastern Europe to catch up to EC standards of living are assessed within the framework of a constant elasticity of substitution production function. This function, parameterized on the EC, is assumed to apply, with certain inefficiency factors, to Eastern...

The paper describes the debt burden of low-income countries and the traditional mechanisms that have been implemented by the international community to alleviate this burden. While these mechanisms are sufficient to reduce the external debts of many heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs) to...

This paper examines Hungary's reforms since 1968. It discusses the government's medium-term adjustment program, unveiled in the fall of 1990, which aims to install the key elements of a market economy in three years