Over the last two decades a number of cross-country empirical studies have been undertaken to assess whether IMF-supported adjustment programs have led to an improved balance of payments and current account balance, lower inflation, and higher growth. These studies use a variety of methodologies...

Adjustment programs in developing countries have emphasized the importance of reducing fiscal deficits in order to improve private sector saving and investment performance. Recent theoretical analyses associated with the Ricardian equivalence proposition, however, suggest that, in the limit,...