Program

Role of the Fund in Low-Income Member Countries over the Medium Term—Issues Paper for Discussion

Research at the IMF

IMF Seminars, Conferences, and Workshops




Macroeconomic Challenges in Low
Income Countries
Washington, DC, October 23-24, 2003
International Monetary Fund
Room 2-530

Organizers: Ratna Sahay, Tito Cordella, and Rodney Ramcharan

The Macroeconomic Studies Division at the IMF's Research Department organized this workshop. Topics included: Foreign Aid, Debt, Shocks and Growth. The workshop's objective was to provide a forum in which Fund and academic researchers could present and discuss their recent contributions in the above areas. The workshop attracted motivated participants who presented their work and discussed the papers of others. Attendance was by invitation only.

Program
Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the Papers for this Workshop.

Thursday, October 23

9:15 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Welcome Address

Introduction/Motivation of Workshop:
Raghuram Rajan (IMF) / Ratna Sahay (IMF)

9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
"The Consistency of IMF Programs"
Reza Baqir (IMF), Rodney Ramcharan (IMF), Ratna Sahay (IMF)
Discussant: Simon Johnson (MIT)
Moderator: Mohsin Khan (IMF)

10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Coffee Break

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
"Political Foundations of the Resource Curse"
Thierry Verdier (Delta), James A. Robinson (UC-Berkley), Ragnar Torvik (NUST)
Discussant: Jaewoo Lee (IMF)
Moderator: Anupam Basu (IMF)

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
"Sovereign Borrowing by Developing Countries: What Determines Market Access?"
Gaston Gelos (IMF), Ratna Sahay (IMF), Guido Sanderis (Columbia)
Discussant: Linda Tesar (University of Michigan)
Moderator: Jorge Marquez-Ruarte (IMF)

1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Lunch

2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
"New Data, New Doubts: Revisiting Aid, Policies, and Growth"
William Easterly (NYU), Ross Levine (UMN), and
David Roodman (NYU).
Discussant: Carlos Végh (UCLA)
Moderator: Leslie Lipschitz (IMF)

3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Coffee Break

4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
"Macroeconomics and Inequality"
Humberto Lopez (World Bank)
Discussant: Oya Celasun (IMF)
Moderator: Teresa Ter-Minassian (IMF)

5:15 p.m. Refreshments
Meeting Hall B


Friday, October 24

9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
"When is Debt Sustainable?"
Aart Kraay (World Bank) and Vikram Nehru (World Bank)
Discussant: Miguel Savastano (IMF)
Moderator: Timothy Lane (IMF)

10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Coffee Break

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
"Conditional Aid, Sovereign Debt and Debt Relief"
Tito Cordella (IMF), Giovanni Dell'Ariccia (IMF), Ken Kletzer (UC-Santa Cruz)
Discussant: Michael Kremer (Harvard)
Moderator: Rex Ghosh (IMF)

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
"Is there a Case for Sterilizing Aid Inflows?"
Alessandro Prati (IMF),Thierry Tressel (IMF), Ratna Sahay, (IMF)
Discussant: Michel Robe (American University)
Moderator: Michael Nowak (IMF)