Finance & Development articles from June 2003

Finance & Development archives from June 2003

From the editor.(inflation and deflation)(Editorial)
June 1, 2003... FOR MUCH of the post--World War II period, policymakers worldwide have been preoccupied with fighting inflation--especially in the 1970s and early 1980s, when annual inflation rates hit double digits in several industrial countries. But, in...

Bergsten rejects Rogoff's "straw man" approach. .(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2003... Kenneth S. Rogoff casts "a vote against grandiose schemes" of international economic policy coordination (March 2003). He specifies the coordination problem in such a narrow and virtually irrelevant manner, however, as to preordain the answer...

Repeat borrowing from the IMF.(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2003... The article "Prolonged Use of IMF Loans: How Much of a Problem Is It?" (December 2002) will probably not be very helpful in promoting understanding of the problems of the borrowing countries. First, a full explanation of prolonged use is not...

Odious debt, odious credit. (Letters to the Editor).(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2003... The IMF deserves credit for the ethical progress it has made in indentifying what has rightly been called "odious debt" (June 2002). There is also a need to identify "odious credit"--the situation created when international lenders lauded a...

Collective action clauses gain support. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Three recent international sovereign bond issues containing collective action clauses (CACs) have been a resounding success, putting an end to emerging market countries' fears that such clauses would raise borrowing costs. There is no evidence...

IMF increasing technical assistance for Africa. (In Brief).(African Regional Technical Assisitance Center in Mali)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... On May 29, the IMF inaugurated its second African Regional Technical Assistance Center (AFRITAC), in Bamako, Mali. The first opened in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in October 2002. The centers were established as part of the IMF's Africa...

Debt for health. (In Brief).(World Bank's program to eradicate polio)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... The World Bank has launched an innovative program to help eradicate polio worldwide by 2005. Developing countries will receive loans from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's arm for concessional lending to the...

Improving management in developing countries. (In Brief).(World Bank)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, is launching a pilot program to address the scarcity of well-trained managers in developing and transition countries by strengthening business schools...

Money games. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... The IMF Center has developed educational modules and interactive games that are a fun way for young people to learn about international economics and the IMF's activities. "The IMF in Action" and "Monetary Mania" are geared to high school...

30 years ago.(quote from an article from June 1973)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... "The effect of climate is clearly not the only ruling constraint on economic development; nor is it suggested that development in today's poor countries would be unbounded if this effect could be removed. What is claimed is that climatic...

Concentrating the mind: Jeremy Clift interviews professor Allan H. Meltzer. (People in Economics).(advocate of economic reform)(recommendations of International Financial Institution Advisory Commission)(Interview)
June 1, 2003... ECONOMISTS may rarely be feted by the President of the United States. But, at 75, Professor Allan Meltzer--who briefly served in the U.S. Treasury during the presidency of John F. Kennedy and later was an advisor to Ronald Reagan-is one of the...

Inflation finding the right balance.
June 1, 2003... THE PROBLEM of inflation is as old as money itself. In ancient Rome, the debasement of silver and gold coins by Nero and his successors triggered a mild inflation that lasted a few centuries, until a misguided currency reform by the emperor...

Beating inflation: the importance of luck, timing, and political institutions.
June 1, 2003... COUNTRIES experiencing high inflation typically make several disinflation attempts, some of which succeed only temporarily. Perhaps the best-documented cases of failed stabilizations are in Latin America: the Southern Gone tablita experiments...

Deflation the new threat?
June 1, 2003... IN RECENT months, concerns about the risk of global deflation have increased. Market commentators like Stephen Roach have emphasized the vulnerabilities in the global economy, and, in a speech to the Economic Club of New York City in December...

The realities of modern hyperinflation: despite falling inflation rates worldwide, hyperinflation could happen again.
June 1, 2003... AFTER World War I, a handful of European economies succumbed to hyperinflation. Austria, Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Russia all racked up enormous price increases, with Germany recording an astronomical 3.25 million percent in a single month...

The move to inflation targeting. (Back to Basics).
June 1, 2003... CENTRAL BANKS don't have it easy. Many of them are committed by law to achieving price stability--that is, ensuring that the rate at which price levels change is low and steady. Price instability causes uncertainty, distorting economic decision...

Root causes: a historical approach to assessing the role of institutions in economic development.
June 1, 2003... TREMENDOUS differences in incomes and standards of living exist today between the rich and the poor countries of the world. Average per capita income in sub-Saharan Africa, for example, is less than one-twentieth that in the United States....

The primacy of institutions (and what this does and does not mean).
June 1, 2003... EXPLAINING the huge difference in average incomes between the world's richest and poorest nations is one of the most fundamental issues in development economics. How did this vast gulf emerge, and can anything be done to reduce it? To...

Testing the links: how strong are the links between institutional quality and economic performance?
June 1, 2003... A GREAT deal of economic research in recent years suggests that institutions are vital for economic development and growth. Typically, economists have looked at the level of economic development, as measured by per capita GDP, and have found...

Institutions matter, but not for everything: the role of geography and resource endowments in development shouldn't be underestimated.
June 1, 2003... THE DEBATE over the role of institutions in economic development has become dangerously simplified. The vague concept of "institutions" has become, almost tautologically, the intermediate target for all efforts to improve an economy. If an...

Institutions needed for more than growth: by facilitating the management of environmental and social assets, institutions underpin sustainable development.
June 1, 2003... IN RECENT decades, China was faced with severe air pollution that was causing health problems for millions, Cameroon was confronted with deforestation that was undercutting local communities' livelihoods and imperiling biodiversity, and...

Plunging into crisis: freshwater resources come under increasing pressure. (Picture this).(Competing uses)
June 1, 2003... GROWING WATER SHORTAGES and water pollution in developing and developed countries alike have plunged the world into a water crisis. This has prompted the United Nations to declare 2003 the International Year of Freshwater "to raise awareness...

Dancing in unison? Economists lack evidence of increasing synchronization of the world's economies.
June 1, 2003... GLOBALIZATION is increasing the links between the world's economies, particularly through capital markets and trade flows. Does the growing importance of these links mean that international policy coordination is now a necessity for effective...

Bhalla versus the World Bank: an outsider's perspective. .(Imagine There's No Country--Poverty, inequality and Growth In the Era of Globalization)(Book Review)
June 1, 2003... Surjit Bhalla Imagine There's No Country--Poverty, inequality and Growth In the Era of Globalization Institute for international Economics, Washington, 2002, xix + 248 pp., $28 (paper). NOTWITHSTANDING Joe Stiglitz's tenure as...

Report cards for public services.(Holding the State to Account: Citizen Monitoring in Action)(Book Review)
June 1, 2003... Samuel Paul Holding the State to Account Citizen Monitoring in Action Books for Change, Bangalore, 2002, xi + 196 pp., Rs 350/$16 (cloth), Rs 250/$12 (paper). WHEN PUBLIC SERVICES fail, and politicians don't seem to care,...

Banking on Death, or Investing in Life. (Book Notes).(History and Future of Pensions)(Book Review)
June 1, 2003... The History and Future of Pensions Versa, London and New York, 2002, x + 550 pp., [pounds sterling]20/$30/Can$42 (cloth). PROFESSOR OF Social History and Political Economy at the University of Essex in the United Kingdom, and former...

Asset Price Bubbles. (Book Notes).(Implication for Monetary, Regulatory, and International Policies)(Book Review)
June 1, 2003... The Implications for Monetary, Regulatory, and international Policies MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England, 2003, xxvi + 581 pp., $45.00/[pounds sterling]29.95 (cloth). THE PAST two decades have been characterized...

Unlocking growth in Africa: aid for humanitarian purposes is desperately needed, but it cannot be the engine of growth. (Straight Talk).
June 1, 2003... IF THE world's rich countries really honor recent aid pledges to sharply increase aid for Africa, the results could be dramatic. We may see aid flows increasing threefold, with many countries receiving transfers equivalent to 20 percent of...