Aid ineffectiveness, fragmentation, and volatility have already been highlighted by scholars and OECD studies. Far fewer studies have been devoted to another problem of capital flows: herding behaviour. Building upon a methodology applied to financial markets, where herding is a common feature,...

In this paper we test the impact of elections on fiscal policy in Latin American economies in comparison to OECD countries over the period 1990-2006. We find that in Latin American countries, the average primary balance declines by an amount close to 0.7 per cent of GDP during an election year,...

A large, untapped reservoir of potential partnerships between private financial institutions (banks, asset managers, private equity firms, etc.) and aid donors remains to be fully exploited. Banks, private equity and asset management firms are important parts of a broad set of private actors in...

. Developing countries will account for almost all the increase in the world's labour force over the next 25 years; most countries, especially in Africa, will experience very rapid labour force growth. . Labour-intensive development has been spectacularly successful in some countries and others...

. Lowering interest rates and, thus, the cost of borrowing in the rand zone (Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland and South Africa) is a priority to promote investment and economic growth. . Local-currency interest rates in these countries are driven by those on rand-denominated transactions. Reducing...

. A growing recognition of the need to delimit the role of the government, to promote the market framework, and to rely on the private sector as the engine of growth, offers the prospect of a new beginning in rural development in Africa. . Rural people must take a more dominant role, both in...

. The poor are the principal beneficiaries of universal access to social services. . Instead of thinking in terms of supply, we need to meet the demand for services from the poor. . Policies should be judged by their outcomes rather than by the amount of resources employed. . Coherent, long-term...

• Many micro-enterprises are known to the authorities, in particular because they pay taxes. • Intermediate-revenue countries impose certain standards to protect consumers. • Wages regulations are only rarely respected. • The creation and development of micro-enterprises could be...

. Deeply rooted social institutions – societal norms, codes of conduct, laws and tradition – cause gender discrimination. . Religion per se does not systematically define such discrimination. All dominant religions show flexibility in interpreting the role of women in society. . The...

In the history of adjustment, concern with the political aspects appeared only after long reflection. At the beginning of the 1980s, given the urgency of the financial crises afflicting many developing countries, the only thought was to restore macroeconomic balances, particularly the balance of...