The gap between the per capita income of most Arab countries and that of advanced industrial countries has widened since the early 1990s. The economic growth performance of the Arab world has been weak by developing country standards, too. Yet, the diversity of growth patterns within this group...

Several developments in international trade in services impact strongly on developing countries: First, the world-wide diffusion of information technologies (IT) has created new export opportunities for developing countries in IT services. Second, the recently proclaimed Millennium Development...

Die Bilanz der bisher erreichten Fortschritte bei der Bekämpfung der weltweiten Armut fällt ernüchternd aus. Zwar haben einige Staaten, insbesondere in Asien, den Einkommensrückstand zu den Industrieländern im Zuge der Globalisierung vermindert. Dazu gehören die bevölkerungsreichen...

Most Latin American countries have made considerable progress in implementing the core recommendations of the Washington Consensus. The comparison with fast-growing Asian countries shows, however, that higher and more broadbased growth can only be achieved with more comprehensive reforms which...

The economic recovery in the euro area has accelerated in the course of 2004. During the first two quarters, real GDP rose at an annual rate of slightly over 2 percent, after about 1½ percent in the second half of 2003. For the first time since 2001, overall capacity utilization increased....

Economic activity in the euro area is recovering. In the second half of 2003, real GDP grew at an annualized rate of roughly 1½ percent. In contrast with other large industrialized countries, economy-wide capacity utilization has not yet increased. Private consumption has remained the major...

Expectations about additional short-run gains from joining monetary union should not be too optimistic. Most of the expected gains from a monetary union are largely endogenous to credible, time-consistent domestic policies. Mere euro area membership is not a replacement for that. However,...

Das reale Bruttoinlandsprodukt ist in Deutschland in den zurückliegenden zehn Jahren durchschnittlich nur um 1,4 Prozent pro Jahr gestiegen, im Zeitraum von 2001 bis 2003 sogar nur um 0,3 Prozent pro Jahr. Die geringen Zuwächse sind nicht allein Ausdruck einer schwachen Auslastung des...