Working Papers
2004
November 1, 2004
Currency Bloc Formation as a Dynamic Process Based on Trade Network Externalities
Description: The recent experience of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) has stimulated the debate over currency union and reinforced the incentive for the emergence of currency blocs in other regions of the world. This paper builds a dynamic stochastic model-based on network externalities operating through trade channels-to explain the emergence of currency blocs, and specifically, why some countries join a currency union earlier than others. The paper develops and formalizes the intuition that currency bloc formation is path dependent, and that countries join currency blocs sooner the more they trade with the bloc member countries, with each additional member serving in a dynamic way to attract more members into the bloc. Evidence from the current pattern of EMU expansion supports the model, which is later used to elaborate on the pattern of further expansion of the union.
November 1, 2004
Capital Inflows, Sterilization, and Commercial Bank Speculation: The Case of the Czech Republic in the Mid-1990's
Description: The paper analyzes the relationship between large-scale capital inflows and sterilization efforts in the Czech Republic during 1993–96 using a vector autoregression (VAR) model, which consists of domestic credit, foreign reserves, and domestic and foreign interest rates. The analysis finds that despite initial success in sterilizing capital inflows, this strategy proved increasingly costly and ultimately unsustainable as domestic interest rates attracted more capital inflows. The commercial banks exploited a profitable sterilization game, whereby they borrowed cheaply abroad and invested the funds domestically in high-yielding sterilization bonds.
November 1, 2004
Social Spending, Human Capital, and Growth in Developing Countries: Implications for Achieving the MDGs
Description: Using panel data from 120 developing countries from 1975 to 2000, this paper explores the direct and indirect channels linking social spending, human capital, and growth in a system of equations. The paper finds that both education and health spending have a positive and significant direct impact on the accumulation of education and health capital, and thus can lead to higher economic growth. The paper also finds that other policy interventions, such as improving governance, reducing excessive budget deficits, and taming inflation, can also be helpful in moving countries toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). As such, higher spending alone is not sufficient to achieve the MDGs.
November 1, 2004
The Distributional Bias of Public Education: Causes and Consequences
Description: While public education is often intended to be progressive in its effects on income distribution, in reality its incidence is often skewed toward the rich. This paper argues that the extent of this bias is directly related to institutional weaknesses in governance. We present a simple dynamic model where weak governing institutions allow the rich to be more effective in appropriating a larger share of public education spending thereby preventing inequality reduction. The empirical part provides tentative support for this view, showing that the progressiveness of public education spending is related to the strength of governance.
November 1, 2004
Interest Rate Pass-Through in Romania and Other Central European Economies
Description: Interest rate pass-through from policy interest rates to market rates and inflation has been hypothesized to play a lesser role in Romania than in other Central European transition economies. This paper tests this hypothesis and concludes that it cannot be supported by the data. Hence pass-through in Romania is concluded to be in line with that in comparable economies in the region. Moreover, the interest rate pass-through has become more pronounced over time.
November 1, 2004
Exchange Rate Policy and Sovereign Bond Spreads in Developing Countries
Description: We test the hypothesis of a link between exchange rate policy and sovereign bonds. We analyze the effect of exchange rate policies on supply and credit spreads of sovereign bonds issued by developing countries. An exchange rate policy is captured by the de facto exchange rate regime and the real exchange rate misalignment. The main findings are: (1) real exchange rate overvaluation significantly increases sovereign bond issue probability and raises bond spreads; (2) spreads and the likelihood of issuing bonds depend on the exchange rate regime; (3) exchange rate misalignment under a hard peg significantly increases bond spreads; (4) in time of debt crises, exchange rate policy also greatly affects the sovereign bond market, especially through exchange rate overvaluation.
November 1, 2004
In the Pipeline: Georgia's Oil and Gas Transit Revenues
Description: Starting in 2005, nontax revenue in Georgia is expected to rise significantly, in the form of transit fees for oil transported through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline. Transit fees for gas transported through the South Caucasus Pipeline are expected to start in 2007. This paper discusses (1) how much additional revenue can be expected, (2) prospects for monetizing gas that could be received as in-kind transit fees, in the light of pervasive nonpayment in the domestic gas sector, (3) the impact of these inflows on external competitiveness, (4) how to put in place appropriate reporting on these additional revenues, and (5) whether these inflows justify the creation of a special natural resource fund.
November 1, 2004
Evolution of the Relative Price of Goods and Services in a Neoclassical Model of Capital Accumulation
Description: This paper provides an explanation for the secular increase in the price of services relative to that of manufactured goods that relies on capital accumulation rather than on an exogenous total factor productivity growth differential. The key assumptions of the two-sector, intertemporal optimizing model are relatively high capital intensity in the production of goods and limited cross-border capital mobility, allowing the interest rate to vary. With plausible parameterization, the model also predicts a decline in the employment share of the goods sector over time.
November 1, 2004
Foreign Direct Investment and Regional Trade Agreements: The Market Size Effect Revisited
Description: The paper investigates whether the market size of a regional trade agreement (RTA) is a determinant of foreign direct investment (FDI) received by countries participating in the RTA. This hypothesis is tested on a sample of 71 developing countries during the period 1980-99. Evidence is found that the RTA market size had a positive impact on the FDI received by member countries, even more so in the 1990s when such agreements were revived and became more widespread. The size of domestic population also seemed to matter, possibly because of its effect on the availability of the labor supply. It appears, however, that not all countries in the RTA benefited to the same extent from the RTA: countries with a relatively more educated labor force and/or a relatively more stable financial situation tended to attract a larger share of FDI at the expense of their RTA partners. This evidence suggests it is essential for all RTA countries to improve their business environment to the best available in the region. Finally, a partial negative correlation between the FDI received by RTA countries and that received by non-RTA countries possibly reflects a diversion of FDI from non-RTA to RTA countries. As an illustration, FDI benefits are simulated from the creation of a regional trade agreement between Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia.
November 1, 2004
Does Compliance with Basel Core Principles Bring Any Measurable Benefits?
Description: We explore the relationship between banking sector performance and the quality of regulation and supervision as measured by compliance with the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision (BCP). Using BCP assessment results for 65 countries and 1998-2002 panel data for other variables, we find a significant positive impact of higher compliance with BCP on banking sector performance, as measured by nonperforming loans and net interest margin, after controlling for the level of development of the economy and the financial system and macroeconomic and structural factors.