Conventional estimates of the seigniorage-maximizing inflation rate often make use of the Cagan form, which implies a constant semielasticity of money demand with respect to inflation. This paper shows that the elasticity of substitution in transactions between money and bonds determines how the...

Fiscal deficits have been at the forefront of macroeconomic adjustment in the 1980s, both in developing and developed countries. Fiscal deficits were blamed in good part for the assortment of ills that beset developing countries in the 1980s: over-indebtedness leading to the debt crisis...

This paper draws on estimates of consumption functions for 13 developing countries to analyze the effectiveness of public policy in raising saving. First, it provides evidence from time-series and panel data on how liquidity constraints affect consumption functions. This suggests that a rise in...

The authors investigate the policy and non-policy factors behind saving disparities, using a large panel data set and an encompassing approach including several relevant determinants of private saving. They extend the literature in several dimensions, by: 1) Using the largest data set on...

The objective of this paper is to apply a framework for macroeconomic consistency to Zimbabwe. Using annual data for 1981and 1987, the paper illustrates the usefulness of imposing consistency on the flow budget accounts (in both current and constant prices) of a developing economy. It presents...

The purpose of this paper is to derive a framework for quantifying the contribution of the most important economic and policy variables to the public sector deficit. The method involves behavioral relations, identities for some key macroeconomic and sector variables and an accounting breakdown...

The authors analyze macrodynamic adjustment during financial liberalization in Chile and New Zealand. During the adjustment to more open capital accounts in the late 1970s or mid-1980s, both countries experienced appreciation of the real exchange rate and a collapse of net exports, while...

The authors develop and apply a macroeconomic general equilibrium model for Zimbabwe. The country faces the challenge of engaging in a program of fiscal stabilization and structural reform to address its current fiscal imbalance, high unemployment, and low growth prospects. The authors discuss...

The authors analyze the impact of fiscal policy changes in openeconomies, using a rational expectation framework that nests two prototype economies: a neoclassical full-employment benchmark economy, with intertemporally optimizing consumers and firms and instant clearing of asset, goods, and...

For the past two decades, Chile has consistently pursued a course of macroeconomic stabilization and deep economic reform. But in recent years, real exchange rate appreciation and persistent moderate inflation have become key concerns for Chilean policymakers, suggesting the need for further...