Evidence about developing countries’ commercial banks’ liquidity preference suggests the following about their loan markets: (i) the loan interest rate is a minimum mark-up rate; (ii) the loan market is characterized by oligopoly power; and (iii) indirect monetary policy, a cornerstone of...

This paper analyses the nature and causes of the patterns of inequality and poverty in India. Since the economic liberalization in the early 1990s, the evidence suggests increasing inequality (in both spatial and vertical terms) as well as persistent poverty. The macroeconomic policies possibly...

We analyze the growth impact of official development assistance to developing countries. Our approach is different from that of previous studies in two major ways. First, we disentangle the effects of two components of aid: a developmental, growth-enhancing component, and a geopolitical,...

This United Nations Policy Note on Financial Policies provides practical guidance on how to operationalize alternative equitable and employment-generating financial policies in National Development Strategies. This Policy Note has been developed in cooperation with UN agencies, and has been...

Evidence on calorie intake and nutritional outcomes establishes that chronic hunger and food insecurity persist today on a mass scale in India. The liberalization-induced policy of narrow targeting of the Public Distribution System (PDS), a programme of food security that provides a minimum...

This paper critically assesses the standard IMF analytical framework for debt sustainability in emerging markets. It focuses on complementarities and trade-offs between fiscal and external sustainability, and interactions and feedbacks among policy and endogenous variables affecting debt ratios....

The paper presents a non-technical summary of the current state of debate on the measurement and implications of global inequality among citizens of the world. It discusses the relationship between globalization and global inequality, shows why global inequality matters and proposes a scheme for...

This paper examines data on economic growth and various social indicators and compares the past 25 years (1980-2005) with the prior two decades (1960-1980). The paper finds that the past 25 years in low- and middle-income countries have seen a sharp slowdown in the rate of economic growth, as...

This paper analyses how monetary policy can enhance the effectiveness of volatile aid fl ows. We find that monetary policy is effective in reducing trade balance volatility. We propose the following taxonomy, excluding the case of emergency assistance. Monetary policy should slow down...

This United Nations Policy Note on Trade Policy provides practical guidance on how to operationalize alternative equitable and employment-generating trade policies in National Development Strategies. This Policy Note has been developed in cooperation with UN agencies, and has been officially...