Finance & Development articles from December 1995

Finance & Development archives from December 1995

Anticipating capital flow reversals.(Financial Markets)
December 1, 1995... What early warning signals should policy-makers heed to avoid a repeat of a Mexico-type reversal of private capital flows? Experience suggests that a combination of indicators can provide powerful hints of approaching problems. A review of the...

Foreign direct investment in developing countries: progress and problems.(Financial Markets)
December 1, 1995... Many developing countries have made notable efforts to attract foreign direct investment in the past decade. Although total flows to the developing world have exploded, they are unevenly distributed. Countries that have aggressively reformed...

Privatization and the development of financial markets in Italy.(Financial Markets)
December 1, 1995... Italy's financial markets have been extensively liberalized in recent years. The Government's large-scale privatization program and the European Union's single-market initiative have provided, and continue to provide, strong incentives for...

Progress report on commercial bank debt restructuring.(Financial Markets)
December 1, 1995... Considerable additional progress was made in 1994 and the first half of 1995 in resolving the commercial bank debt problems of developing countries. Debt- and debt-service reduction operations were concluded by Bulgaria, the Dominican [TABULAR...

Saving and the real interest rate in developing countries.
December 1, 1995... Raising real interest rates has often been cited as a way to increase private saving, and thus provide the resources for growth. But this may not be a viable approach in the poorest developing countries, in which most people live at the...

Can inflation targets help make monetary policy credible? (includes related article)
December 1, 1995... How can central banks best establish the credibility of monetary policy? Devising a transparent framework for monetary policy, this article suggests, may be an effective way to achieve this. Credibility is an essential element of monetary...

Corruption, governmental activities, and markets. (includes related article)
December 1, 1995... Corruption distorts the role of government and is costly to society. Governments can minimize the opportunities for individuals to engage in corruption by reducing the role of the state in the economy. Corruption comes in many shapes and forms....

Policies for achieving sustainable growth in the industrial countries.
December 1, 1995... Prospects for sustained economic growth in the industrial countries are generally good, especially because inflation rates have remained well contained - in many cases, close to their lowest levels since the early 1960s. However, large budget...

Commercializing Africa's roads. (includes related articles)
December 1, 1995... Why not bring roads into the marketplace, put them on a fee-for-service basis, and manage them like a business? Road transport is the dominant form of transport in sub-Saharan Africa. It accounts for 80 to 90 percent of the region's passenger...

Can Eastern Europe's old-age crisis be fixed? (pension in Eastern Europe)(includes related article)
December 1, 1995... In the transition economies of Eastern and Central Europe, the high tax rates required to finance existing pension systems are impeding efforts to promote economic growth and improve resource allocation. This article examines the difficult...

Quantifying the outcome of the Uruguay Round.
December 1, 1995... Using a large-scale empirical model, the authors quantify the welfare benefits of the Uruguay Round. Their results suggest that because industrial countries liberalized the most, they stand to gain the most from the agreement in the short run....

Setting investment priorities in education.
December 1, 1995... Although many countries have become convinced that they need to invest more in human capital, efforts to improve their educational systems have frequently been disappointing. In this article, the authors suggest specific steps that governments...