In recent years, two classes of computable general equilibrium (CGE) trade models have been used to investigate external sector policies: single country and and multicountry trade models. The authors examine the treatment of exports and imports in recent single country CGE models of small...

Theoretically, uniform trade taxes (uniform tariff-cum-subsidies, UTCSs) are equivalent in effect to devaluations of the commercial rate in a dual exchange rate system - if one disregards smuggling and customs fraud. When either form of illegal trade is factored in, this equivalence is broken,...

The author presents and implements a methodology for assessing the success of structural adjustment based on a"fixed effect"method. He examines data for 75 countries over 11 years. Performance indicators include measures of inflation, economic growth, external balance, and physical investment....

Most developing countries intervene extensively in financial markets, setting ceilings on interest rates and spreads and allocating much (often between half and all) of formal credit to"priority"uses. This study reviews interest rate controls and other repressive financial policies on investment...

This paper deals with the effects of disinflation on economic activity in"chronic inflation"countries -- countries with a long inflationary history above the rates in industrialized countries, where labor and capital markets are adjusted to function in the inflationary environment. The sample is...

The worldwide slowdown in growth after 1975 was a major negative fiscal shock. Slower growth lowers the present value of tax revenues and primary surpluses and thus makes a given level of debt more burdensome. Most countries failed to adjust to the negative fiscal consequences of the growth...

Drawing on evidence from a large sample of speculative attacks in industrial and developing countries, the author argues that high interest rates do not defend currencies against speculative attacks. In fact, there is a striking lack of any systematic association between interest rates and the...

This paper reports on tests of alternative hypotheses as to the effects of a budget deficit, examines the influence of the size of the government on economic growth, and investigates the impact of public investment on private investment, total investment, and economic growth. The findings have...

The authors construct, estimate, and simulate a macroeconomic model for Chile. This model allows aggregate supply and demand factors to interact in determining such key economic variables as inflation, the real wage, the real exchange rate, real output and employment, and the current account...

The academic and policy debate about optimal foreign exchange rate regimes for emerging economies, has focused more on the theoretical costs and benefits of possible regimes, than on their actual performance. The authors report on what can be called exchange-rate-regime-dependent differential...