There has been increasing interest in exploring financial instruments that could limit the cyclical vulnerabilities of developing countries and reduce the likelihood of defaults and debt crises. GDP-indexed bonds fall into this category and may also generate a wider range of benefits for issuer...

Income inequality in the United States of America has increased over the past few decades. Along with this development, employee compensation as a share of national income has tended to decline, the profit share of national income has grown, and inequality within labour has risen. There is no...

This paper reviews evidence from both industrialized and developing countries on the re1ationship between labour market flexibility and employment. It is argued that the notion of flexibility and its impact is often oversimplified. The evidence, such as it is, does not provide much support for...

This paper argues that the current global reserve system is inherently unstable due to the use of a national currency as the major international reserve currency, and the high demand for “self-insurance” by developing countries. The latter is due to the mix of highly pro-cyclical capital...

The substantial literature investigating the links between trade, trade policy, and labour market outcomes has generated a number of stylized facts, but many open questions remain. A common finding is that much of the shorter-run impacts of trade and reforms involve reallocation of labour or...

The present paper focuses on the role of domestic resource mobilization for financing poverty reduction strategies. Policy makers should be aware of important macroeconomic trade-offs associated with MDG strategies financed from tax increases or domestic borrowing. The trade-offs are largely...

The growth of voluntary initiatives to promote socially responsible business practices has been accompanied by a chorus of criticisms, including claim that much of the activity has been public relations and attempt to deter governments from implementing effective regulations. This paper reviews...

This paper considers the main elements of the standard pattern of financial liberalization that has become widely prevalent in developing countries. The theoretical arguments in favour of such liberalization are considered and critiqued, and the political economy of such measures is discussed....

Despite numerous international commitments to promote transfer of climate-change related technologies to developing countries, such transfers are not occurring at a sufficient rate to aid these nations in mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change. The impact of the WTO Agreement...

There has long been a minority view that providing people with cash is an effective way of combating poverty and economic insecurity while promoting livelihoods and work. The mainstream view has been that giving people money, without conditions or obligations, promotes idleness and dependency,...