Working Papers
2001
November 1, 2001
Measuring Statistical Capacity Building: A Logical Framework Approach
Description: This paper suggests a way forward in the effort to measure statistical capacity building by combining features of two tools – the Project Management System, a logical framework methodology that the IMF Statistics Department uses to plan, monitor, and evaluate technical assistance projects, and the Data Quality Assessment Framework, a methodology for assessing data quality that brings together best practices and internationally accepted concepts and definitions in statistics
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2001
October 1, 2001
Private Costs and Public Infrastructure: The Mexican Case
Description: One objective of government investment is to develop public infrastructure which may reduce private sector costs. In a developing economy, the scope for payoffs to investments of this sort may be particularly large. A major concern related to the recent fiscal adjustment in Mexico is that it has been carried out, in part, by depleting public infrastructure stocks.We estimate the effects of public infrastructure on private sector costs in Mexico and calculate the implied optimal infrastructure stocks. Our estimates indicate that previous results suggesting a large productive role of public infrastructure capital are not robust. There is little evidence that public infrastructure plays a large role in reducing private sector costs.
October 1, 2001
Systemic Financial Crises, Balance Sheets, and Model Uncertainity
Description: This paper empirically examines the probability and intensity of financial crises during the 1990s with a view to informing crisis prevention and mitigation policies. The econometric analysis uses a decision-theoretic approach, rather than the more standard general-to-specific approach, to address the high degree of model uncertainty. The results affirm the importance of balance sheets in the probability and intensity of financial crises, especially corporate balance sheet stresses and foreign exchange liquidity shortfalls. Model uncertainty is a bigger problem for estimating crisis intensity compared to crisis probability.
October 1, 2001
Inflation Targeting Under Asymmetric Preferences
Description: This paper develops and estimates a game-theoretical model of inflation targeting where the central banker's preferences are asymmetric around the targeted rate. Specifically, positive deviations from the target can be weighted more, or less, severely than negative ones in the central banker's loss function. It is shown that some of the previous results derived under the assumption of symmetry are not robust to this generalization of preferences. Estimates of the central banker's preference parameters for Canada, Sweden, and the United Kingdom are statistically different from the one implied by the commonly-used quadratic loss function.
October 1, 2001
Econometric Analysis of Discrete Reforms
Description: The paper suggests an econometric methodology for testing the effectiveness of reforms implemented in one major step, i.e., discrete reforms. The methodology is based on the exogeneity properties of variables in an econometric model. The paper specifies the preconditions for setting up an appropriate model; suggests an economic interpretation of the tests for weak, strong, and superexogeneity; and illustrates this methodology by applying it to two cases of instantaneous reforms. The exogeneity properties of variables in a correctly specified econometric model may help uncover information on the preparation, implementation, and the outcome of such reforms, which could be useful for future policy advice.
October 1, 2001
Characterizing Exchange Rate Regimes in Post-Crisis East Asia
Description: This paper examines the behavior of the exchange rates of selected emerging market East Asian economies in the aftermath of the Asian crisis. The results suggest that movements in the Asia-5 currencies (Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand) were significantly influenced by the U.S. dollar's day-to-day movements before the crisis, and have indeed continued to do so post-crisis. However, comparisons with a range of other currencies suggest that this is a fairly common trait across various regimes. Moreover, results from the post-crisis data do not support the view that the Asia-5 currencies presently have the same characteristics as they did before the crisis.