IMF Policy Discussion Papers
1994
December 1, 1994
Monitoring Financial Stabilization in Moldova: The Role of Monetary Policy, Institutional Factors and Statistical Anomalies
Description: Monitoring Financial Stabilization in Moldova: The Role of Monetary Policy, Institutional Factors and Statistical Anomalies
December 1, 1994
The Speed of Financial Sector Reform: Risks and Strategies
Description: The Speed of Financial Sector Reform: Risks and Strategies
November 1, 1994
Fiscal Regimes for Natural Resource Producing Developing Countries
Description: Fiscal Regimes for Natural Resource Producing Developing Countries
October 10, 1994
The IMF and the Latin American Debt Crisis: Seven Common Criticisms
Description: The IMF played a key role in developing and implementing the debt strategy throughout the 1980s. That strategy not only overcame the crisis but also produced successful transformationsof several major economiesin Latin America. Nonetheless, the IMF's role has also been criticized on several grounds. This study examines seven such criticisms.
October 1, 1994
Russia and the IMF: The Political Economy of Macro-Stabilization
Description: This paper reviews the experience with macroeconomic stabilization in Russia during the 2 1/2 years following the beginning of reforms in January 1992. It focuses on the different perceptions about the nature, the causes and the consequences of inflation in Russia and about the policies required to deal with it. It recounts the authorities’s efforts to control inflation and discusses the major political obstacles to stabilization, including the pressures for subsidized credits, budgetary transfers and tax exemptions and interenterprise arrears. Finally, it examines the role of IMF-supported programs in the process. This is a Paper on Policy Analysis and Assessment and the author(s) would welcome any comments on the present text. Citations should refer to a Paper on Policy Analysis and Assessment of the International Monetary Fund, mentioning the author(s) and the date of issuance. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the Fund.
October 1, 1994
Social Protection, Labor Market Rigidity, and Enterprise Restructuring in China
Description: Social Protection, Labor Market Rigidity, and Enterprise Restructuring in China
October 1, 1994
Fiscal Adjustment in an Oil-Exporting Country: The Case of Indonesia
Description: Fiscal Adjustment in an Oil-Exporting Country: The Case of Indonesia
September 1, 1994
Currency Boards: Issues and Experiences
Description: This paper discusses some of the issues that concern the operation of currency boards, by comparison to conventional exchange rate pegs, and looks at the experiences of three examples of this type of arrangement: Argentina (from 1991), Hong Kong (from 1983) and Estonia (from 1992). In all three cases, the implementation of currency boards or equivalent arrangements played a significant role in their successful stabilization programs. Currency boards derive their strength from the fact that they severely constrain the policy maker’s room for manoeuvre, by comparison to conventional pegs. They generally require an even stricter and less forgiving attitude to bank failure, wage and price rigidities and other disturbances than do exchange rate pegs in general. This is a Paper on Policy Analysis and Assessment and the author(s) would welcome any comments on the present text. Citations should refer to a Paper on Policy Analysis and Assessment of the international Monetary Fund mentioning the author(s) and the date of issuance. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the Fund.
September 1, 1994
Structural Policies in Developing Countries
Description: This paper discusses the broad orientation of the economic systems adopted in developing countries. While government-led development strategies were widely followed by developing countries since the 1950s and 1960s, a distinct trend towards the adoption of market-oriented systems has developed in the last decade. The paper reviews international trade policies, noting the move away from protectionism, and financial markets policies, where financial repression is also giving way to more liberal systems. The paper also discusses newer ideas supporting “industrial policies” or policies to promote certain export activities, that are partly inspired by the success of several East Asian economies, and observes that their application to other developing countries would not be promising.
August 1, 1994
Monetary Transmission and Financial Indexation: Evidence from the Chilean Economy
Description: This paper reviews empirical evidence on the operation of the monetary transmission mechanism based on targeting of interest rates on indexed assets in the Chilean economy. The empirical evidence has two policy implications. First, interest rates on indexed assets do not fully reflect real interest rates because of imperfections of backward indexation magnified by the variability of monthly inflation. Second, while substantial adjustments to interest rates on indexed assets affect the cyclical position of output and inflation, there is no evidence of a stable, systematic relationship between these three variables. In contrast, money growth and unexpected inflation play a significant role in the transmission mechanism. This evidence calls for an eclectic approach to monetary policy. This is a Paper on Policy Analysis and Assessment and the author(s) would welcome any comments on the present text. Citations should refer to a Paper on Policy Analysis and Assessment of the International Monetary Fund, mentioning the author(s) and the date of issuance. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the Fund.