This paper reviews the key challenges in rebuilding fiscal institutions in post-conflict countries. Based on IMF technical assistance advice, it proposes a three-step framework for the creation or re-establishment of well-functioning public finance institutions: (i) creating a proper legal...

This paper analyzes the impact of IMF-supported programs on health and education spending in a large time-series cross-section sample of countries. Using an ARIMA model to model time dynamics and instrumental variables to correct for the well-known endogeneity of IMF-supported programs, the...

This paper analyzes the impact of globalization on social spending in Latin America. It shows that trade integration has a consistently negative effect on social security expenditures, and that this effect is compounded by higher integration into capital markets. The importance of political...