The valuation of enterprises has been a major stumbling block to privatization in transitional economies. Data on the performance of state-owned enterprises under central planning is plentiful, but that information is not worth much in a market economy, especially one in which much progress has...

Are multinationals flocking to pollution havens in developing countries? Using data from four developing countries (Cote d'Ivoire, Mexico, Morocco, and Venezuela), the authors examine the pattern of foreign investment. They find almost no evidence that foreign investors are concentrated in dirty...

The authors use a firm-level panel data set from Romania to examine whether the nationality of foreign investors affects the degree of vertical spillovers from foreign direct investment. Investors'country of origin may matter for spillovers to domestic producers in upstream sectors (supplying...

The author empirically investigates the monetary impact of banking crises in Colombia, Chile, Denmark, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, and Uruguay. She uses co-integration analysis and error correction modeling to research: 1) Whether money demand stability is threatened by banking crises. 2) Whether...

A distinction can be made between two approaches to exchange rate policy in developing countries. The"real targets"and the"nominal anchor"approach. Part I of this report gives an overview of the two approaches and the assumptions they imply. Part II expounds the"real targets"approach and its...

The author analyzes 61 trade policy reviews prepared for the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its predecessor, GATT - reviews that document the progress developing countries have made in integration with the world trading system over the past decade. Based on an analysis of post-Uruguay Round...

In the early 1980s, the Polish chemical industry got caught up in a battle waged by the European Community's chemical industry to preserve the EC market for itself. The Polish share of that market was very small, and the performance of the Polish companies did not depend on it, so they emerged...

Previous approaches to credit policy in the stabilization and adjustment of developing countries have emphasized either the role of the availability of credit or the role of its price - that is, the interest rate. The authors argue that effective credit policy in developing countries must take...

Empirical explorations of the growth and productivity impacts of infrastructure have been characterized by ambiguous (countervailing signs) results with little robustness. A number of explanations of the contradictory findings have been proposed. These range from the crowd-out of private by...

A wave of privatization is sweeping the globe, affecting about 100 countries and adding up to an average of more than $60 billion a year in business in the past decade. The challenge is to ensure that privatization yields clear benefits. Empirical studies suggest that ownership change by itself...