Understanding dollarisation and related debates requires an appreciation of what might be called the "calculus of dollarisation," i.e., a tally of real and perceived costs and benefits of full dollarisation (the adoption of the foreign currency such as the dollar as legal tender in a given...

The paper demonstrates that the Yugoslav hyperinflation, the second highest and the second longest episode in economic history, was driven by excessive money supply that monetized various deficits that emerged upon the disintegration of the country. The identified cointegrating relations showed...

Russia has weathered the global crisis better than initially feared, in part due to its large stimulus package, and is now likely to witness a robust but relatively jobless recovery. But the crisis has emphasized the country's long-standing needs to modernize its public sector, strengthen its...

The paper decoposes the Theil index and ANOVA to understand interregional, urban and rural contributions to the overall variation in average personal incomes (API) in the Yugoslav municipalities. The paper finds that inter-regional variation contributes significantly - about 25 percent - to the...

The paper reviews Bulgaria's inter-governmental finances and the process of fiscal decentralization during the early transition (1990-95) from centrally planned to a market economy. The paper discusses salient features and reform issues in tax assignments, inter-governmental relations,...

This note discusses the external environment, economic outlook, and key policy challenges for the six South East European Countries (SEE6) — Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH), Kosovo, the former Yugoslav Republic (FYR) of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia — as they seek to reignite...

The passage of Russia's “Great Recession” provides an opportunity for academics and policy makers to reflect on policy lessons that could help policy makers deal with future crises, including how to handle the triple challenges — fiscal, financial, and social — in the aftermath of the...

Integration of knowledge with lending is an enduring theme in World Bank strategies at the corporate and country levels. The Bank lending instruments could be more relevant and produce better results if they incorporate key analytical, country-level knowledge. The goal of this learning product...