This Selected Issues Paper discusses the macroeconomic implications of pension reforms in Brazil. It assesses empirically the relationship between fiscal policy and the real effective exchange rate in emerging markets and draws policy implications. It reviews the current status of local capital...

This paper examines how pay-as-you-go (PAYG) pension reform from a defined-benefit scheme to a defined-contribution scheme affects economic growth in an overlapping generations model with endogenous growth. We show that in economies in which the old-age dependency ratio is relatively high and...

How to entrench hard-won gains, increase resilience to shocks, and improve growth performance to reduce poverty? As Central America moves forward in regaining macroeconomic stability, these are the challenges. This study analyzes Central America’s real, fiscal, monetary, and financial...

This paper reports on a pilot study to present the United States fiscal data in a manner consistent with the Government Finance Statistics Manual (GFSM 2001). The study incorporates cash and accrual source data in a consistent and harmonized statistical framework, enhancing the accuracy and...

This paper presents a technical note on Mexico’s Financial Sector Assessment Program update. The Mexican experience displays interesting characteristics that provide lessons for other countries that still need to design the decumulation phase of their newly established second pillars. The...

The paper discusses the limits to market-based risk transfer in the financial system and the implications for the management of systemic long-term financial risks. Financial instruments or markets to transfer and better manage these risks across institutions and sectors are, as yet, either...

This paper provides detailed empirical evidence on the saving behavior of Irish households using micro data from the 1994/95 and 1999/2000 Household Budget Surveys. I employ synthetic cohort techniques to characterize the life cycle profile of saving rates and to examine the response of...

This Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix paper reviews the path of Papua New Guinea’s external debt over the last decade. It explains the underlying macroeconomic framework to better understand the dynamics behind the external debt profile, and assesses the relative scale of the...

This short piece discusses the risks currently inherent within both European and U.S. pension markets and provides prescriptive suggestions as to how they could be alleviated. It further highlights the potential opportunities the solutions currently being considered to solve this problem could...

This Selected Issues paper highlights that the authorities in the Republic of Korea recognize the pension policy challenges ahead, and a first wave of reforms has already been launched. Despite the reforms to date, much remains to be done. Without further reforms, the public pension systems in...