Analyses of debt relief that focus on the behavior of debtors and existing creditors understate the incentives for collective action by creditors. It is well known that debt relief could benefit existing creditors by providing incentives for domestic investment by residents of debtor countries....

Low-income countries (LICs) face significant challenges in meeting their development objectives while maintaining a sustainable debt position. The international community's main answer to this dilemma has been to promote recourse to concessional external resources. The Fund's recommendations to...

Risks to macroeconomic stability posed by excessive private leverage are significantly amplified by tax distortions. 'Debt bias' (tax provisions favoring finance by debt rather than equity) has increased leverage in both the household and corporate sectors, and is now widely recognized as a...

The IMF Working Papers series is designed to make IMF staff research available to a wide audience. Almost 300 Working Papers are released each year, covering a wide range of theoretical and analytical topics, including balance of payments, monetary and fiscal issues, global liquidity, and...

Israel’s compliance with International Organization of Securities Commissions’ objectives and Principles of Securities Regulation has been assessed. The regulatory regime is well developed and in most respects is comparable with that of major jurisdictions. For the most part, it is...

The correlation bias refers to the fact that claim subordination in the capital structure of the firm influences claim holders’ preferred degree of asset correlation in portfolios held by the firm. Using the copula capital structure model, it is shown that the correlation bias shifts...

This paper presents an assessment of Hungary’s antimoney laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism measures. The Hungarian authorities have made significant progress in strengthening their AML regime. The most important step has been the passage of a revised AML Act of 2003,...

In recent years, the IMF has become deeply involved in the international movement to prevent the abuse of financial systems and to protect and enhance the integrity of the international financial system. The IMF’s involvement has been expanded beyond anti-money-laundering efforts to include...

The following is the provisional agenda for the Twenty-First Meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, which is to be convened at the Fund's Headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, April 24, 2010. A joint working dinner of IMFC members and G-20 ministers will be held...