The paper addresses preferential trade agreements in Asia and the Pacific with the objective of identifying their characteristics which can be useful in assessing the effects of their implementation. The paper relies mostly on the Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Agreements Database (APTIAD) in...

This paper presents the primary institutions and economic policies that have led to Chile’s remarkable record of stability and growth over the past twenty years. The core of this policy stance is the combination of fiscal discipline and an open trade policy regime, together with carefully...

This paper examines the Philippines’s 2004 Article IV Consultation and Post-Program Monitoring Discussions. GDP growth has exceeded expectations, but unemployment remains high. With exports staging a recovery and consumption boosted by overseas remittances and the election, GDP grew by...

This paper examines the dynamic relationship between trade and income. While most economists agree that increased trade leads to an increase in average income, economic theory is ambiguous about the possible effects on the long-run growth rate of the economy. Using a dynamic panel data model,...

This article tries to summarize achievements of ten years anniversary of WTO (1995-2005) and the negotiations taking place at its summits from Seattle (1999) to Hongkong (2005). These achievements could be characterized at best as mediocre ones. WTO has been muddling through numerous disputes,...

This paper examines Vietnam’s experience with bilateral trade agreements and compares subsequent outcomes with predictions from existing computable general equilibrium (CGE) models. Those model based assessments have greatly underestimated the impact of past agreements. Tariff reform is not...

How to entrench hard-won gains, increase resilience to shocks, and improve growth performance to reduce poverty? As Central America moves forward in regaining macroeconomic stability, these are the challenges. This study analyzes Central America’s real, fiscal, monetary, and financial...

This paper presents an overview of the economy of Hungary. The paper highlights that during the Fifth Five-Year Plan (1976–80), actual growth rates for almost all major plan aggregates remained below the targets. The lower targets set for the increase in both consumption and investment in...

This 2003 Article IV Consultation highlights that despite significant slowdowns in activity in some major overseas markets, New Zealand has maintained a strong pace of economic growth over the past three years. The economy’s performance reflected its enhanced flexibility, stemming from...

This 2004 Article IV Consultation highlights that the three-year Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility arrangement for Vietnam expired in April 2004. During the arrangement, Vietnam maintained strong economic growth and low inflation, and achieved further poverty reduction, supported by...