Brazil has had a long period of high inflation. It peaked around 100 percent per year in 1964, decreased until the first oil shock (1973), but accelerated again afterward, reaching levels above 100 percent on average between 1980 and 1994. This last period coincided with severe balance of...

Despite the growing public debate on fiscal surprise during election periods in jurisdictions where the democratic dispensation is young, comprehensive empirical works to this effect in the case of Africa are hard to find. This study, therefore, sought to contribute to the debate on two counts....

Chapter One: Introduction -- Chapter Two: Looking Back at How Egypt Got to Today -- Chapter Three: Navigating the Storms -- Chapter Four: Achieving Sustainable and Inclusive Growth -- Chapter Five: The Way Forward.

In this chapter, we review the monetary and fiscal history of Argentina for the period 1960–2017, a time during which then country suffered several balance of payments crises, three periods of hyperinflation, two defaults on government debt, and three banking crises. All told, between 1969 and...

A number of strategies to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and associated cost estimates have recently been presented, most influentially by the Millennium Project and the World Bank. The models underlying the recommended strategies are flawed, as a result of their reliance on...

Exemplifying the negative consequences of a variety of inappropriate fiscal and social policies, Zimbabwe has failed to realize its potential to become a strong, independent state, going from the admiration and envy of its neighbours to near-complete collapse and abject poverty. Economic...

One of the most topical issues that have received extensive attention in economics to date centers on: what determines economic growth? Attempts at answering this question have spawned an avalanche of possible reasons as determinants, ranging from economic, social, political to institutional...

The Producer Price Index (PPI) for the United States suggests that semiconductor prices have barely been falling in recent years, a dramatic contrast to the rapid declines reported from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s. This slowdown in the rate of decline is puzzling in light of evidence that...