Chapter 1: Introduction -- Chapter 2: Prologue -- Part 1: Internal and External Equilibrium under the Bretton Woods System -- Chapter 3: Japanese Economic Policy Management under the Bretton Woods System -- Chapter 4: The Internal vs External Dilemma: West German and Japanese Episodes -- Chapter...

Monetary policy and balance of payments (BoP) are the key parameters in any country's economy performance. This study is an attempt to re-explore the impact of domestic credit provided by the financial sector, real interest rate, real GDP growth, inflation rate, and exchange rate on the balance...

Using a central bank legislation database, this paper documents and analyzes worldwide institutional arrangements for central bank lending to the government and identifies international practices. Key findings are: (i) in most advanced countries, central banks do not finance government...

This paper studies the spending and absorption of aid in PRGF-supported programs, verifies whether the use aid is programmed to be smoothed over time, and analyzes how considerations about macroeconomic stability influence the programmed use of aid. It finds that PRGF-supported programs allow...

This paper presents a simple model of optimal reserves that can be easily calibrated to compute optimal reserves as well as the implied probability of a sudden stop for given reserves. The model builds upon the global games framework of Morris and Shin to establish a unique relationship between...

Although capital inflows are generally beneficial to recipient countries, they also pose a challenge for the conduct of economic policy. This paper proposes a conceptual taxonomy to guide the design of policy responses in the face of capital flows. We explore how responses to capital surges...

This paper investigates whether developing and emerging market countries can implement monetary policies similar to those used by advanced countries during the recent global crisis - injecting significant amounts of money into the financial system without facing major short-run adverse...

This 2013 Article IV Consultation highlights that Sierra Leone has made significant progress in macroeconomic stabilization over the last five years. Real GDP growth averaged some 7 percent, driven by output expansion in agriculture, mining, and services; as well as the scaling-up of...

The Slovak Republic’s 2005 Article IV Consultation reports that sound macroeconomic management and a wide range of fundamental structural reforms are supporting nominal convergence with European Union norms. Real GDP growth accelerated to 6 percent in 2005, driven by an improvement in the...