Working Papers

January 1, 0001

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January 1, 0001

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January 1, 1999

Consumption and Income Inequality in Poland During the Economic Transition

Description: This paper challenges the conventional wisdom that income inequality in Poland increased substantially following the economic transition in 1989–90. The results, based on micro data from the 1985–92 Household Budget Surveys, indicate that overall income inequality increased during the initial stages of the transition but then declined to pre-transition levels. Consumption distributions reveal a similar pattern. However, earnings inequality did increase markedly after the transition and the relative well-being of different socio-economic groups was altered. Absolute poverty levels increased during the transition, but this increase is attributable to declines in mean income and consumption rather than to changes in inequality.

January 1, 1999

The Morning After: Explaining the Slowdown in Japanese Growth in the 1990's

Description: This paper uses vector autoregressions (VARs) to investigate four explanations of the extended slump in Japanese economic activity during the 1990s: the absence of bold and consistent fiscal stimulus; limited room for expansionary monetary policy because of a liquidity trap; asset price deflation reflecting the long-term problems caused by overinvestment, inadequate returns on saving, and debt overhang; and disruption of financial intermediation. The results indicate that disruption in financial intermediation, largely operating through the impact of changes in domestic asset prices on bank lending, has been the principal case of the slump.

January 1, 1999

The Euro and the Production Structure and Export Performance of Middle East and North African Countries

Description: This paper explores the link between exchange rate volatility of European currencies and economic performance of several countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The elimination of intra euro-zone exchange rate volatility resulting from the introduction of the euro is estimated to affect the production structure of MENA economies and shift their exports from manufacturing to agriculture and services. At the country and industry levels, the impact of the euro is more striking in countries with higher shares of manufacturing and higher shares of exports to the euro zone.

January 1, 1999

Repmod: A Smaller Sibling for Multimod

Description: This paper describes a small macroeconomic model based on a representative industrial-country block of MULTIMOD, the IMF’s multi-country simulation model. REPMOD is designed to provide a more flexible and accessible tool for analysis by individual country desks than the full version of MULTIMOD. It also allows the construction of model-consistent baseline paths, in addition to conventional shock-minus-control experiments. After discussing the model’s general structure and properties, some distinctive aspects are illustrated via simulations that explore the implications of Japan’s liquidity trap.

January 1, 1999

Inflation Targeting in Korea: An Empirical Exploration

Description: The revised Bank of Korea Act states that the primary goal of monetary policy is price stability, suggesting that monetary policy will move toward an inflation-targeting framework. The paper explores some of the practical aspects of this move, including such issues as the predictability of inflation, the definition of the price index, the inflation target’s time horizon, and the width of the inflation-target bands. On balance, the empirical evidence suggests that Korea is likely to be successful in adopting an inflation-targeting framework over the medium term.

January 1, 1999

In Search of "Capital Crunch": Supply Factors Behind the Credit Slowdown in Japan

Description: The seeming failure of loose monetary policy to reactivate Japan’s economy has led some observers to suggest that the usual credit channels through which monetary policy affects the real economy are blocked, and this because of a pervasive shortage of bank capital that has induced a leftward shift in the supply of bank credit: the so called credit crunch hypothesis. This paper finds support for the hypothesis in the 1997 bank data—a year during which the landscape of the Japanese financial system was changed fundamentally—but finds no, or even contrary, evidence, for most of the 1990’s.

January 1, 1999

Credibility of Central Bank Independence Revisited

Description: The specific role of central bank independence in determining the overall credibility of monetary policy is addressed in this paper. It is argued that the credibility of delegating monetary policy to an independent central bank is endogenous to the credibility of the inflation target because a “conservative” inflation target may not be compatible with the fiscal policy stance. Also, lack of transparency in designing the institutional set-up is shown to be welfare-reducing.

January 1, 1999

China's Trade Flows: Changing Price Sensitivies and the Reform Process

Description: Over the past 20 years, the Chinese authorities have undertaken wide-ranging reforms of their exchange and trade systems that have steadily reduced the role of planning and increased the importance of market forces. As these reforms have taken root, relative prices and domestic and foreign demand would be expected to have played a bigger role in determining trade flows. Econometric estimates of export and import equations provide evidence that trade flows have indeed become increasingly price sensitive, owing to the gradual liberalization of the trade regime over time, and to the growing shares of foreign-funded enterprises and manufactures in total trade.