We measure the amount of smoothing achieved through various components of the government deficit in Eu and OECD countries. For EU countries, at the 1-year frequency, 13 % of shocks to GDP are smoothed via government consumption, 18 percent via transfers, 5 % via subsidies, while taxes provide no...

This essay takes a fresh look at the lender-of-last-resort issue and asks whether, how, and to what extent national practices should be adapted to the international environment. It begins by reviewing national practices. Then it analyzes, through both theory and evidence, the features that make...

This World Bank Discussion Paper brings together two contributions on external debt issues. The first paper discusses the insurability of sovereign debt against default. The second paper reviews numerous studies that have been conducted over the years to identify the variables that could predict...