The current economic crisis in Argentina is only partly the result of inappropriate domestic policies to cope with the recent external shocks. Years of inappropriate policies have damaged Argentina's economy. Even if no external shocks had occurred, the country would still have to change the...

Pension reform is spreading around the globe, from Latin America to the OECD countries, and major reform projects are being discussed in many other developing, transition, and OECD countries. The authors survey current research issues and country experiences related to old-age social security...

By populism, this paper refers to an economic approach that emphasizes growth and income redistribution and deemphasizes the risks of inflation and deficit finance, external constraints and the reaction of economic agents to aggressive nonmarket policies. It analyzes two instances of populism -...

Bahrain's economy is characterized by producer and consumer subsidies and, possibly misaligned currency. These subsidies have resulted in lower savings rates than would be consistent with the country's endowment in oil and gas. In addition, the misaligned real exchange rate has encouraged...

The authors analyze macrodynamic adjustment during financial liberalization in Chile and New Zealand. During the adjustment to more open capital accounts in the late 1970s or mid-1980s, both countries experienced appreciation of the real exchange rate and a collapse of net exports, while...

Macroeconomic consistency is the requirement that budget constraints be observed for all participants in the economy. This paper presents the elements of a macroeconomic accounting framework in current prices. The framework is based on five accounts, corresponding to the following macro...

This paper presents model simulations to quantify the effects of different stabilization packages in the distribution of income and wealth. The simulations suggest that a sharply contractionary stabilization package has a major adverse impact on the distribution of income. The shifts in...

The recovery of the Chilean economy since the mid 1980s, has certainly been successful in macroeconomic terms. In fact, the restoration of growth and the correction of external imbalances after the severe economic crises of 1982 -83 has taken place in a macroeconomic environment of moderate...

This paper contains a numerical listing of working papers produced by the Policy, Planning, and External Affairs Complex. Each citation contains a brief abstract, and the contact point for the paper.

Many developing countries, especially in Latin America and Eastern Europe, have unfunded pay-as-you-go public pension systems that face growing financial pressures. These emanate from a weak link between contributions and benefits, from widespread evasion, and from an aging population. Chile...