We focus on the management of highly persistent shocks to aid flows, including HIPC or MDG-related increases in net flows, in the presence of currency substitution by the domestic private sector. Such shocks have beneficent long-run effects, but when currency substitution is high they can...

We focus on the management of highly persistent shocks to aid flows, including HIPC or MDG-related increases in net flows, in the presence of currency substitution by the domestic private sector. Such shocks have beneficient long-run effects, but when currency substitution is high they can...

This paper assesses why the 2008–2009 global economic recession impacted East Asia less than it did the United States (US) and the European Union(EU). The paper utilizes a “growth-with-resilience” (GWR) index aimed at measuring the extent to which a country can absorb or counteract...

We use firm-level administrative data from Ecuador to study the implications of 'reverse withholding' for firms' tax behavior. Withholding does not affect tax liability of firms, but it may result in a discontinuity in the audit probability around the withholding threshold. Exploiting variation...

Informal payments are a frequently overlooked source of local public finance in developing countries. We use microdata from ten countries to establish stylized facts on the magnitude, form, and distributional implications of this "informal taxation." Informal taxation is widespread, particularly...

We estimate the impact of a large anti-poverty cash transfer program, the Uruguayan PANES, on political support for the government that implemented it. Using the discontinuity in program assignment based on a pre-treatment eligibility score, we find that beneficiary households are 11 to 14...

In the new millennium, the Western aid effort towards Africa has surged due to writings by well-known economists, a celebrity mass advocacy campaign, and decisions by Western leaders to make Africa a major foreign policy priority. This survey contrasts the predominant "transformational" approach...

As increasingly obvious signs tell us that the natural environment is changing abruptly and, unfortunately, noticeably, the natural resources are increasingly depleted but have to support a growing population, strategies for the sustainable development of the society will have to be implemented,...

Changes in financial policy are expected to result in the greater availability of credit as financial controls are relaxed and banking competition is increased. This ‘financial deepening’ should show up in ahigher consumption expenditure in areas where credit is often required, such as...