This Selected Issues paper on the Republic of Korea reviews near-term economic prospects and risks. Korea experiences solid growth with low inflation, and vulnerabilities to potential shocks appear low. With Korea aging at an almost unprecedented rate, spending on pensions, health, and long-term...

This Selected Issues paper for the Russian Federation discusses existing empirical efforts to measure the determinants of cross-country financial integration. Empirical studies that have adopted the gravity-model framework have found that it is generally successful in explaining bilateral...

In this study, the economic development and growth of San Marino are discussed. For liquidity management, the Central Bank of San Marino was commended. Different measures have been taken to enhance the operational autonomy of the Central Bank of San Marino (CBSM), buttress supervisory functions,...

The Greek economy is teetering owing to heavy public debt and loss of market access. Greece is adopting an ambitious comprehensive multiyear adjustment program to lower the fiscal deficit and the debt ratio, reduce domestic demand in line with capacity, and increase supply and competitiveness so...

Robust GDP growth, declining unemployment, low and stable inflation, and a string of fiscal and current account surpluses -- it's a record to be envied. These outcomes in Canada owe much to sound macroeconomic policies, as well as to a favorable external environment. This book focuses on these...

This Selected Issues paper examines the long-term issues with pension expenditures in the Netherlands. The paper highlights that the public pension for a single person is equal to 70 percent of the (statutory) minimum wage. The minimum wage and public pensions thus move in lock-step; they are...

Putting the pension system on a sustainable footing arguably remains the biggest challenge in Russia's economic policies. The debate about the policy options was hitherto constrained by the absence of general equilibrium analysis. This paper fills this gap by simulating their macroeconomic...

The Czech Republic has embarked on an ambitious tax reform and expenditure package to bring the deficit sustainably below 3 percent, and intends to reduce the deficit to 1 percent of GDP by 2012. To address the long-term fiscal challenge due to population aging, pension reform proposals are also...

How will the world-wide decline in real interest rates associated with global aging affect small open economies (SOEs) with aging populations? Lower interest rates will result in higher capital-labor ratios and increased wages; higher wages, in turn, will be passed on to pension benefits,...

During the transition process, many existing social sector institutions and policies were significantly eroded and their underlying character changed. As a result, they often do not redistribute to the poorest, nor generally serve the role of facilitating economic change. Social sector reforms...