IMF Staff Papers articles from July 2004

IMF Staff Papers archives from July 2004

The international monetary fund and the global spread of privatization.
July 1, 2004... The sale of state-owned assets--privatization--has been a defining characteristic of the global economy in the last two decades of the twentieth century. More than 8,000 acts of privatization were completed around the world between 1985 and...

Capital account liberalization and economic performance: survey and synthesis.
July 1, 2004... Economic theory suggests that unfettered international capital flows can foster a more efficient allocation of resources, provide opportunities for risk diversification, and help promote financial development. In recognition of these potential...

Asymmetric arbitrage and default premiums between the U.S. and Russian financial markets.
July 1, 2004... This paper examines covered interest rate arbitrage--that is, interest rate arbitrage where the risk of foreign exchange rate movements are covered in the forward exchange market--between the Russian ruble Treasury bill (GKO) market and the...

A new set of measures on capital account restrictions.
July 1, 2004... The Asian crisis of late 1997 and the subsequent collapses in Russia, Brazil, and Argentina have sparked a vigorous debate about how best to improve the current global financial architecture. In this context, recent papers by De Gregorio,...

Higher or basic education? The composition of human capital and economic development.
July 1, 2004... No country has achieved sustained economic development without substantial investment in human capital. Motivated in part by this observation, an extensive theoretical literature has evolved to analyze the channels through which human capital...

Export orientation and productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa.
July 1, 2004... A recent World Bank report argues that greater export orientation of manufacturing industries should be promoted as an important element of the growth strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank, 2000). The argument is partly premised on the...

The unbearable stability of the German wage structure: evidence and interpretation.
July 1, 2004... The relationship between labor market institutions and overall labor market performance has been the subject of considerable interest among academics and policymakers in recent years. In particular, a vigorous debate has emerged on the...

Extreme contagion in equity markets.
July 1, 2004... It has been widely documented that the comovement of prices in financial markets increases significantly during periods of stress, such as the Exchange Rate Mechanism crisis in 1992-93, the Mexican crisis in 1994, and the more recent financial...