The paper examines the cyclical properties of food aid with respect to food availability in recipient countries, with a view to assessing its impact on consumption in some 150 developing countries and transition economies, covering 1970 to 2000. The results show that global food aid has been...

This paper examines the factors affecting the persistence of fiscal consolidation in 25 emerging market countries during 1980-2001. It proposes a new approach for defining spells of fiscal consolidation. The results indicate that the probability of ending a fiscal adjustment is affected by the...

The paper addresses one of the key features and expectations of thePRGF: are budgets more pro-poor and pro-growth? Relying on abundant data gatheredfrom numerous countries, the authors show that indeed the composition of bothbudgeted and actual public spending is shifting towards...