This paper examines aggregate primary capital market activity in a cross section of emerging market and developed countries. We analyze data on the value of funds raised domestically via issues of debt and equity securities in public capital markets in 32 countries over the period 1980-95. There...

This paper considers the use of risk management techniques and instruments by firms in developing countries. Increased financial market volatility in recent years has led to the development of a number of new financial instruments for managing the risks associated with specific transactions. In...

Most discussions of security markets and asset pricing take trading system design as exogenous and as playing a relatively minor role in the overall pricing process. But more recently, interest in market microstructure has revealed the significant role that it can play in both market success and...

Restrictions on equity ownership are common in many countries, especially emerging markets. Yet, despite their importance, many basic empirical questions regarding the effects of such barriers to investment remain unanswered. This paper examines the relation between stock prices and market...

The magnitude and determinants of credit and currency risks are topics of considerable importance. This paper uses data on peso- and dollar-denominated debt issued by the Mexican government to identify currency and country risk premia. We show that shoc ks in equity and debt market returns...

Policy makers in emerging markets are increasingly concerned about the consequences for the domestic equity market when a company lists its stock abroad. We show that the effects of cross-listing depends on market transparency, i.e., the quality of inter-market information linkages. We...

We analyse the debt dynamics in countries that benefited from the HIPC/MDRI debt relief initiatives with a view to applying a probabilistic approach to estimating future debt paths for those countries. We extend the probabilistic approach to public debt sustainability analysis (DSA) proposed by...

This discussion paper examines in its first part, the role of private investment in economic growth. While theoretical growth models developed in the economics literature, make no distinction between private, and public components of investment, there is an emerging appreciation that private...

The report is part of the continued investigation on the public-private investment relationship, and its focus for this year is on the quality of public investment, its interaction with corruption, and the resulting impact on private investment. The first chapter provides statistics on trends in...