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Economists and policymakers are still trying to understand the lessons recent financial crises in Asia and other emerging market countries hold for the future of the global financial system. In this timely and important volume, distinguished academics, officials in multilateral organizations, and public and private sector economists explore the causes of and effective policy responses to international currency crises. Topics covered include exchange rate regimes, contagion (transmission of currency crises across countries), the current account of the balance of payments, the role of private sector investors and of speculators, the reaction of the official sector (including the multilaterals), capital controls, bank supervision and weaknesses, and the roles of cronyism, corruption, and large players (including hedge funds). Ably balancing detailed case studies, cross-country comparisons, and theoretical concerns, this book will make a major contribution to ongoing efforts to understand and prevent international currency crises.
This paper examines the volatility and predictability of emerging stock markets. A range of measures suggests that, despite perceptions to the contrary, the volatility of emerging markets may have fallen rather than risen on average. Also, although the autocorrelations in emerging market returns appear to turn negative at horizons of a year or more, the magnitude of these return reversals is not that much larger than reversals in some mature markets. One interpretation of the results would be that emerging markets have not consistently been subject to fads or bubbles, or at least no more so than in some industrial countries.
This article presents an overview of the life of Richard Layard, who believes that the basic purpose of economics is the maximization of happiness and well-being. As director of the Wellbeing Programme at the London School of Economics’ Centre for Economic Performance, Layard focuses on the study of happiness. Layard was a distinguished labor economist long before he turned his attention to happiness. He is best known for his research in the 1980s on unemployment and for his advocacy of policies to support unemployed people on the condition that they try to find work. This “welfare to work” approach became popular in parts of continental Europe and was a mainstay of British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s economic program. Layard’s other current preoccupation is climate change. He is one of the drivers of the Global Apollo Program, a project to make renewable energy cheaper than fossil fuels within 10 years through publicly funded, internationally coordinated research and innovation.
This paper provides policymakers, academics, and the public with valuable information about policies and institutions in China today, the road ahead, and key principles that can help in navigating it. The paper focuses on crucial issues in the country’s transformation, such as tax policy and administration, social security, state-owned enterprise reform, medium-term expenditure frameworks, the role of local government finances, Renminbi internationalization, and macroeconomic statistics. Women make up a little over half of the world’s population, but their contribution to measured economic activity and growth is far below its potential. Despite significant progress in recent decades, labor markets across the world remain divided along gender lines, and progress toward gender equality seems to have stalled. Women’s economic empowerment is critical for the overall economy. As research conducted both inside and outside the IMF shows, empowering women can boost economic growth, reduce income inequality, support export diversification, and strengthen corporate performance.
This IMF catalog provides the newest information on the key publications. Each publication underpins IMF strategic positions and policy by disseminating global and regional surveillance products and analysis, and by expanding country-level outreach. With this objective in mind, the IMF publishes a wide variety of books, periodicals, and electronic products covering global economics, international finance, monetary issues, statistics, exchange rates, and other global economic issues. IMF’s print and digital publications also present the analysis, research, policy advice, and data on economic and financial sector issues at the global, regional, and country level. The West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) has a long and varied history, and this Building Integrated Economies in West Africa: Lessons in Managing Growth, Inclusiveness, and Volatility book examines how the WAEMU can achieve its development and stability objectives, improve the livelihood of its people, and enhance the inclusiveness of its economic growth, all while preserving its financial stability, enhancing its competitiveness, and maintaining its current fixed exchange rates.
Mexico is reinventing itself. It is moving toward a more tolerant, global, market oriented, and democratic society. This new, second edition of Changing Structure of Mexico is a comprehensive and up-to-date presentation of Mexico's political, social, and economic issues. All chapters are new, and are written by noted Mexican and U.S. scholars. Changing Structure of Mexico provides a lucid and informative introductory reader on Mexico. The book covers such topics as Mexico's foreign economic policy and NAFTA; maquiladoras; and technology policy; domestic issues such as banking, tax reform, and oil/energy policy; the environment; population and migration policy; the changing structure of political parties; and changes affecting women and labor, as well as the values that underlie the remarkable changes in Mexico during the last two decades.
The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have experienced dramatic changes in economic policy in the last decade, decisively moving toward more open market systems. The reforms have gone hand in hand with a remarkable increase in the quality of the policy debate in the area. This new journal from the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA) provides a forum for influential economists and policymakers from the region to share high-quality research directly applied to policy issues within and among those countries. Contents of the first issue: "Macroeconomic Volatility in Latin America: Facts and Policy Implications," Richard Caballero (MIT); "Regulation of Privatized ...