Pension reforms that establish individual accounts will diminish the relative importance of the traditional state pension while creating a significant role for individual accounts in providing income for retirement. This paper surveys the policy issues this new role entails. It offers general...

Central banks and other public financial institutions act as agents of fiscal policy in many countries. Their ""quasi-fiscal"" operations and activities can affect the overall public sector balance without affecting the budget deficit as conventionally measured, may also have important...

This paper looks at the dramatic decline in global real interest rates in recent years from a historical perspective and examines the various factors that may account for this trend. We show that current levels of real interest rates on long-term bonds in advanced economies are not low by...