IMF Staff Papers articles from January 2006

IMF Staff Papers archives from January 2006

Who adjusts and when? The political economy of reforms.
January 1, 2006... Why do certain countries implement economic reforms relatively promptly and swiftly, whereas others delay them, letting significant economic costs accumulate? This issue puzzles economists and policymakers, and it is part of an even broader...

The causes of fiscal transparency: evidence from the U.S. states.
January 1, 2006... From a policy perspective, government transparency has been an integral part of attempts to reform public sector governance since at least the early 1990s. Broadly defined, government transparency is the overall degree to which citizens, the...

Plant turnover and structural reforms in Colombia.
January 1, 2006... Reallocation and restructuring are ubiquitous features of market economies. Evidence from longitudinal microbusiness databases for developed countries shows that a large fraction of measured productivity growth is explained by more-productive...

Outcomes-based conditionality: its role and optimal design.
January 1, 2006... IMF programs are in essence incentive schemes. (1) A country is rewarded with IMF financing if it implements certain policies and achieves certain outcomes. For an IMF program to be successful, its conditionality should be designed to provide a...

Political constraints and public support for market reform.
January 1, 2006... "Reform fatigue" in lower- and middle-income countries has become a concern of country governments, donors, and multilateral development institutions alike. There has been much recent recognition that, without legitimacy, economic reforms can...

Remoteness and real exchange rate volatility.
January 1, 2006... International trade has grown at a startling pace over the past two decades. This growth can be explained by many factors, such as the lowering of trade costs, improved technology, and reduced trade barriers. This globalization also affects the...

Local currency bond markets.
January 1, 2006... The currency crisis literature has recently focused on the importance of developing local currency bond markets in order to avoid the financial fragility associated with a currency mismatch. Such a mismatch arises, for example, if a firm's...

Asymmetric effects of government spending: does the level of real interest rates matter?
January 1, 2006... Postwar U.S. data exhibit substantial fluctuations in real interest rates. Changes in real interest rates affect the cost of financing government spending and the burden of future fiscal consolidation. This implies that the effects of fiscal...