This paper considers the determinants of exports of modern services and traditional services. It considers the growth of export volumes as well as export surges, that is, the periods of rapid sustained export growth. It asks whether the determinants of export growth rates and export surges...

In May 2013, Federal Reserve officials first began to talk of the possibility of tapering their security purchases. This tapering talk had a sharp negative impact on emerging markets. Different countries, however, were affected very differently. This paper uses data on exchange rates, foreign...

This paper provides an assessment of India's inflation-targeting regime. It shows that the Reserve Bank of India is best characterized as a flexible inflation targeter: contrary to criticism, it does not neglect changes in the output gap when setting policy rates. The paper does not find that...

India has attained much economic success in the past three decades. Yet an economic deceleration in recent years has generated worried commentaries about the country's growth outlook. This paper offers a long-term perspective on India's growth experience. Analyzing the past five decades of data,...

This paper analyzes the use of capital flow measures in emerging markets. Drawing on a specially compiled new database of capital flow measures, it establishes that policy makers in emerging market economies do not use capital flow measures as an active tool at business cycle frequency. While...

To date most private sector water projects have been financed on a limited recourse basis, that is, with project cash flows and assets as the main security for lenders. The move from project to corporate (balance sheet) financing is occurring in stages. Financing project debt from the sponsor...

A project finance structure allows water projects with attractive cash flows and risk profiles to secure long-term private capital. But even in industrial countries the credit strength of off-taking municipal governments and the sector's traditional monopoly structure expose lenders to...

Government guarantees for private infrastructure projects represent real liabilities, and their costs can average as much as a third of the amount guaranteed. The authors show how governments can use a risk valuation process to analyze the distribution of risks, decide which risks they should...

To manage their exposure arising from guarantees to infrastructure projects, governments need to adopt modern risk management techniques. The authors introduce an integrated risk management system that draws on recent advances in the private sector. Adapted for use in the public sector, the...

Increasingly, the consequences of globalization call for the involvement, not only of national governments, but of the international development community as a whole. Such involvement needs to occur within a comprehensive framework that encompasses stakeholders from government, non-governmental...