China encountered problems preserving economic stability while pursuing reforms aimed at increasing its economic flexibility and efficiency. This paper examines China's experience with market-oriented reforms since 1978, offering lessons for other centrally planned economies in the midst of...

We review the experience of Hungary with the preannounced crawling band exchange rate system during 1995-97. When selecting the exchange rate regime, several key characteristics of the transition process must be taken into account: reform-induced inflationary pressure, the necessity to...

This paper raises some specific issues concerning the choice of exchange rate regime in transition countries during the run-up to EU/EMU membership. It argues that there is no "one-size-fits-all" exchange rate regime that accession countries should uniformly adopt. It also argues that the...

Using a panel of 21 OECD countries and 40 years of annual data, we find that countries with similar government budget positions tend to have business cycles that fluctuate more closely. That is, fiscal convergence (in the form of persistently similar ratios of government surplus/deficit to GDP)...

The purpose of this paper is to examine the fiscal characteristics of the new members in the light of the requirements of the SGP and the criticisms levelled against the Pact and to see in what ways their initial conditions differ from those faced by the current euro zone countries in the run-up...

The relevant quot;sizequot; of an economy is affected by its environment. A country could be small in the world economy yet become big in relation to its smaller neighbors, imposing on them its relative price structure and the consequences of its trade policies. We examine here the consequences...

Market-oriented economic reforms in centrally planned economies have altered the functions and objectives of key policy instruments, particularly in the case of fiscal policy. As a result of reform, economic management requires the use of quot;indirectquot; levers to regulate the behavior of...