We test the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic growth in a cross-country regression framework, utilizing data on FDI flows from industrial countries to 69 developing countries over the last two decades. Our results suggest that FDI is an important vehicle for the transfer of...

This paper analyzes the credit crunch following the recent financial crisis in Korea. Using enterprise-level data, we find that there were big differences in the magnitude of the credit contraction across different types of firms. In particular, chaebol (conglomerate)-affiliated firms appeared...

This paper analyzes some of the structural problems associated with the Korean financial sector, and investigates whether the financial system has allocated credit in an efficient way over the past three decades. Using data for 32 manufacturing sectors, we find no evidence that credit flows were...

The links between trade and growth are examined in a neoclassical model of an open economy in which domestic production requires both domestic and imported inputs. The model shows that trade distortions induced by such government policies as tariffs and exchange controls generate cross-country...

A consistent set of disaggregated industrial output data for four Eastern European countries is examined In order to determine the extent to which structural adjustment has taken place since the initiation of market-oriented reform. The latter created a massive relative price shock whose affects...

The “traditional structural approach” to the determination of real commodity prices has relied exclusively on demand factors as the fundamentals that explain the behavior of commodity prices. This framework, however, has been unable to explain the marked and sustained weakness in commodity...

This paper discusses several proposals for a wholesale privatization of public enterprises in Eastern Europe. These proposals include the distribution of ”vouchers” to private citizens as well as the use of mutual funds, privatization companies and other forms of financial intermediaries....

We analyze the costs and benefits of full dollarization compared to its closest alternative, a currency board, quantifying for Argentina where possible. Potential advantages include lower borrowing costs and deeper integration into world markets. One cost is the transfer of seigniorage to the...

We examine the implications of high degrees of dollarization for the choice of exchange rate regime and the information content of various monetary aggregates in developing countries. We conclude that a high degree of currency substitution argues for a more fixed exchange rate regime, while...

Although credit rating agencies have gradually moved away from a policy of never rating a private borrower above the sovereign (the ""sovereign ceiling"") it appears that sovereign ratings remain a significant determinant of the credit rating assigned to corporations. We examine this link using...