The paper examines the challenges that developing countries face in accelerating and sustaining growth. The cases of China and India are examined to illustrate a more general phenomenon which might be called model uncertainty. As a developing economy grows, its market and regulatory institutions...

Sovereign risk was a big macro theme in 2011, and understandably so. This theme will not abate in 2012. Indeed, this year will likely feature many additional sovereign risk developments that will impact in a consequential manner the functioning of the global economy and financial markets. In the...

An empirical analysis of the determinants of currency substitution in Egypt and the Yemen Arab Republic is provided for the period 1980-86. During this period, residents exhibited a marked preference to substitute foreign money balances for domestic balances, as indicated by their holdings of...

This article develops a model of competitive interaction and industry evolution in the presence of a learning curve. The learning curve is a function relating the unit costs of the individual firm to accumulated volume. The responses of the model to shifts in parameters are explored through...

In the United States and Europe, central banks have essentially been the only policymaking entities consistently willing and able to take bold measures to deal with an unusually complex set of national, regional, and global economic and financial challenges since the onset of the Great Recession...

Kuwait has made an impressive recovery from the damage and disruptions caused by the Iraqi invasion in 1990, as evidenced by the restoration of basic economic and social services, the recovery of the oil sector, the rehabilitation of infrastructure, and the steady reduction in the fiscal and...

The paper analyzes the evolution of Mexico’s approach to commercial bank debt restructuring since the outbreak of the 1982 debt servicing problems. It discusses the key elements of the approach, their implementation, and their interaction with developments in the “international debt...