Perestroyka, introduced in the Soviet Union to reform the economy after the"period of stagnation"under Brezhnev, involves combining centralized planning with elements of a market economy. For it to succeed, certain micro and macro conditions need to be fulfilled. As far as micro conditions are...

Commodity linked bonds have received considerable attention recently as a way to tailor a developing country's debt repayments to its ability to pay. This report presents a method for pricing commodity-linked bonds in the presence of default risk and a commodity price risk. The advantage of this...

A cornerstone of the auction literature is the theory of"optimal auctions."'This theory uses mechanism design techniques to characterize, in general settings, the auction that maximizes the seller's expected revenues. One feature of the solution is that typically there is a conflict between the...

Economists and policymakers in the Soviet Union before its dissolution were concerned about the growth of the"ruble overhang."The concern was that the rationing of consumer goods evident in prior years had led to an excess of purchasing power in households. Price liberalization was expected to...

This paper estimates export supply elasticities in 20 countries using an empirical model in which manufactured exports are a function of the price of exports, the price of imported inputs, and labor costs relative to the price of home goods. The export supply equation is completed with a...

Most literature on voluntary export restraints ( VERs ) analyzes the welfare costs of VERs to consumers in the importing country. The authors propose a method for measuring the effects of a VER on the productivity of factors employed in the exporting industry. Their model measures how a VER...

This paper examines issues involving the design and sequence of economic reform in formerly socialist economies that have made the political decision to move to a private market economy. They also examine the potential role of foreign countries in providing aid, technical assistance, and market...

The authors provide an overview of recent privatization experiences in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. They focus on both achievements and outstanding problems in the electricity sector. They pay special attention to the issue of whether regulators can enforce compliance and sustain the spirit of...

Equity flows to developing countries climbed to an estimated $13 billion in 1992, four times the amount invested three years earlier. Investment increased partly because countries removed restrictions on foreign ownership, liberalized capital account transactions, and generally made foreign...

The authors address two questions: What happens to stock market size, liquidity, volatility, and integration with world capital markets after capital controls are liberalized? And what is the relationship between those indicators of stock market development and regulations about information...