This paper examines the effects of inflation and currency substitution volatility on the average rates of inflation and currency substitution for twelve emerging market economies. Using a bivariate GARCH-in-Mean model, which accommodates for asymmetric and spillover effects of inflation and...

This paper examines the macroeconomic effects of foreign aid transfers in a small open recipient economy. The focus, however, is not on the impact of foreign aid per se but rather on aid’s influence conditional upon the different budgetary financing policies under the discretion of the...

This paper is concerned with the effects of aid transfers and their degree of volatility on economic growth. We develop a theoretical framework that distinguishes the allocation of foreign aid between productive and nonproductive uses. On the one hand, devoting aid inflows into productive public...

This paper explores how the optimal mode of public finance depends on the stage of economic development. The theoretical analysis is based on an overlapping generations growth model with an imperfect capital market. Random shocks create a demand for liquidity and establish a role for financial...

This paper provides an analytical overview of models of segmented urban labor markets in developing countries. It begins by reviewing the characteristics of the labor market in these countries, including institutions and regulations that may lead to segmentation. The wage and employment e?ects...

This paper puts in perspective the recent research on the macroeconomics of poverty reduction. It begins by arguing that research on poverty was, and continues to be, distorted by an excessive focus on micro and measurement issues. The debate on "pro-poor growth" is used to illustrate the extent...

This paper examines the effect of external shocks on urban poverty in a two-household (rich and poor) intertemporal optimizing model of an open economy with segmented labor markets. Skilled and unskilled labor are used in the formal sector, whereas only unskilled labor is used in the informal...

This paper studies the allocation of public expenditure between infrastructure investment and maintenance in an endogenous growth framework. In the basic model maintenance affects both the durability and efficiency of public capital. The balanced growth path is derived and transitional dynamics...

Optimal tax and spending allocation rules are derived in an endogenous growth model in which raw labor must be educated to become productive and infrastructure services affect the schooling technology. The optimal tax rate is found to depend only on the elasticities of output with respect to...

This paper studies the optimal allocation of government spending between infrastructure and health (which affects labor productivity as well as household utility) in an endogenous growth framework. A key feature of the model is that infrastructure affects not only the production of goods but...