This paper discusses the economic performance of Latin America in the last decade, paying special attention to growth and the financial sector. In particular, it shows that external factors, such as like U.S. interest rates and the business cycle, play a key role in capital inflows, investment,...

This paper offers an alternative explanation for t he fall of Argentina's Convertibility Program based on the country's vulnerability to Sudden Stops in capital flows. Sudden Stops are typically accompanied by a substantial increase in the real exchange rate that wreaks havoc in countries that...

This paper discusses the changing pattern of capital flows to developing countries. The analysis is heavily colored by recent events. It concentrates on the principal facts, developments, and policies that characterize the current episode of capital inflows to Asia and Latin America.

The country studies and their background papers included in this book were prepared for the Latin America and the Caribbean section of the "Global Research Project: Explaining Growth" of the Global Development Network (GDN), a research effort conducted in association with the Latin American and...

Why are growth rates in Latin America so disappointing? This book reviews the results of an ambitious research project to determine the binding constraints to growth, that is, the barrier whose removal would yield the greatest benefit in terms of growth. Included are case studies from seven...

Regional integration among asymmetric countries is a hot and burning policy topic worldwide. Deepening Integration in MERCOSUR analyzes the most important issues of economic integration and policy coordination that countries face as they advance towards deeper integration and are urged to...

The authors of this volume analyze the policies that led to East Asia's economic success, including those affecting human resources, savings, the financial sector, trade and institutions, and examine the lessons these policies carry for Latin America. The genesis of this book was an...

El Informe de 1997 examina las fuerzas complejas que le han dado forma al proceso de reformas y analiza los retos de mantener un crecimiento económico sostenible, de la prevención de inestabilidad, las mejoras de la distribución del ingreso y la participación en la toma de decisiones...

In the context of a perfect foresight, intertemporal optimizing, cash-in-advance model, this paper studies the dynamics of an inconsistent exchange rate-based stabilization policy that fixes the exchange rate without an underlying fiscal adjustment to ensure that the exchange rate policy is...

The initial stages of exchange rate-based stabilizations have been generally characterized by a consumption boom, a deterioration of the trade balance and the current account, and an appreciation of the real exchange rate. It is only at the later stages that the economy falls into recession. Tax...