IMF Staff Papers articles from July 2005

IMF Staff Papers archives from July 2005

Mundell-Fleming lecture: contractionary currency crashes in developing countries.
July 1, 2005... It is a great honor to give this fifth annual Mundell-Fleming lecture. December 2004 is the tenth anniversary of the Mexican peso crisis of 1994. In retrospect, this crisis ushered in an eight-year series of highly visible devaluations in...

From "Hindu growth" to productivity surge: the mystery of the Indian growth transition.
July 1, 2005... India's economic performance during the first three decades after independence in 1947 was christened the "Hindu" rate of growth, a term connoting a disappointing but not disastrous outcome and the acquiescence in the present that the religion...

Comments on "from 'Hindu growth' to productivity surge: the mystery of the Indian growth transition".
July 1, 2005... This is a disappointing paper. It sees a mystery and fails to convince through analysis why it does. Had the authors been familiar with Indian economic literature, they might not have written it! The literature has not only noted the growth...

Reply to comments by T. N. Srinivasan.
July 1, 2005... Since our discussant's intemperate remarks risk detracting attention from the interesting questions at hand, let us try to clarify where the important disagreements are so that the reader can make up his or her own mind. First, it is worth...

Financial liberalization and consumption volatility in developing countries.
July 1, 2005... How does international financial integration help developing countries? Two main potential benefits are (i) the more efficient allocation of capital across country borders, and (ii) improved risk-sharing opportunities. For risk sharing in...

IMF programs and growth: is optimism defensible?(International Monetary Fund)
July 1, 2005... IMF-supported programs are often described by those on the left as creating hardships on the population because they are said to be "too tight" (Stiglitz, 2003). Those on the right frequently disparage the objectives that were set in the...

Special section on central bank financial independence and policy credibility: introduction.
July 1, 2005... This special section of IMF Staff Papers provides a welcome opportunity to highlight an issue that has dwelled in relative obscurity until the past few years--the significance of central bank financial strength and its relevance in determining...

Capitalizing central banks: a net worth approach.
July 1, 2005... The decline in world inflation and interest rates in recent years has brought with it a string of losses in many central banks, leading policymakers to plan for their recapitalization. This has typically led to protracted and often convoluted...

Is the Bank of Japan's financial structure an obstacle to policy?
July 1, 2005... During the past decade, the financial strength and capital policy of all G-3 central banks--the European Central Bank, Federal Reserve, and Bank of Japan--have been reviewed and discussed. In only the last case, however, has it been suggested...

Central bank financial strength, transparency, and policy credibility.
July 1, 2005... We found no widely accepted, analytically based criteria to show whether a central bank needs capital as a cushion against losses or how the level of such an account should be determined. (1) ...