The paper provides a detailed description of a novel dataset on education attainment in public administrations covering the period 1981-2011 for 178 countries. The dataset uses information extracted from CVs for over 130,000 mid to senior level officials from mainly central banks and ministries...

This paper reviews the literature on the macroeconomic impact of natural disasters and presents the IMF’s role in assisting countries coping with natural catastrophes. Focusing on seven country cases, the paper describes the emergency financing, policy support, and technical assistance...

Exclusion restrictions used to identify demand and supply relationships for market financing among IDA recipients (past and present) show that poor credit ratings and high political instability adversely impact the supply of market finance. While the adverse effects of external debt on market...

In this paper, the structure of Colombia’s financial sector is analyzed and various risks of the financial sector are studied. Supervision of the financial system can be performed by supervisory architecture, banking supervision, various securities, and insurance policies. Systemic...

This paper presents key findings of the Third Review under the Policy Support Instrument (PSI) for Senegal. The budgetary slippages, which had seriously affected the economy and put Senegal’s PSI-supported program at risk, have been successfully addressed. In line with program...

This paper does two things. First, it articulates what are the main implications of theoretical and empirical research for design of labor market policies and labor market institutions. Second, in this light, the paper analyzes the IMF’s labor market recommendations since the beginning of the...

Using a panel dataset of 34 emerging market countries for the period 1990-2002, we examine the roles of various economic, political, and institutional variables in determining fiscal effort, as proxied by the primary surplus. We find that while fiscal effort increases, as expected, with the...

According to MGDS-II, certain major factors such as Malawi’s vulnerability to external shocks, inadequate policy response, and weak implementation capacity have hindered growth and development of the economy. The political risks resulting from the upcoming 2014 tripartite elections have...

This paper focuses on the Strategy for Accelerated Growth and Sustainable Development (SCADD) for Burkina Faso. It provides an overview of a decade of development, takes stock of the recent performance of Burkina Faso in various areas, and identifies the main challenges. The paper spells out a...

Rwanda’s Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy provides a medium-term framework for achieving the country’s long-term development goals and aspirations as embodied in Rwanda Vision 2020, the seven-year Government of Rwanda programme, and the Millennium Development...